Children engage in phone sex at home – report

The Youth Programme Officer with the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana, Mr Michael Tagoe, has revealed that many children and young adults currently at home have resorted to sexting and phone sex.

Mr Tagoe who is also a counselor said this practice among children especially is becoming increasingly worrying as a number of young children were being enticed into wrong sexual conversations via their mobile phones.

Sexting is an act of sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages, photographs, or images, primarily between mobile phones, of oneself to others.

It may also include the use of a computer or any digital device while phone sex is talking through sexual acts or fantasies over the phone with a partner.

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Irresponsible behaviors

The counselor said many of the youth were building up behaviours in their rooms, a situation that could set them up for irresponsible sexual relationships.

He, therefore, urged parents and guardians to be extra vigilant in checking the activities their children or wards engaged in on their mobile phones, laptops, tablets and any other gadgets available to them.

Mr Tagoe was speaking at a workshop to sensitise heads of vocational institutions apprenticeship and artisanal groups on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) Sexual and Reproductive Health and Gender Equality in Cape Coast.

Sixty participants selected from districts, including the Assin South, Upper Denkyira West, Komenda-Edina Eguafo Abrem, Ajumako Enyan Essiam, Ekumfi and Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira districts in the Central Region and trained in the three-session workshop.

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It was organised by the National Youth Authority (NYA) in collaboration with the Central Regional Coordinating Council with funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Craze for fame

Mr Tagoe said it was important to reorient the young people on their quest and craze for fame on social media platforms.

“Children of today are always anxious to engage in anything that would make them popular, without thinking of the consequences” he noted.

Aside from this, he mentioned that a number of women are having unplanned pregnancies, therefore, end up having unsafe abortions.

“These are issues that should concern every parent and guardian as such unsafe abortions can lead to death and other serious illness,” he stated.

Sexual gender-based violence

The Central Regional Director for the Department of Gender, Mrs Thywill Kpe, said sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) affected a lot of women and advised the public not to shield perpetrators but to be advocates against issues on SGBV.

The Regional Director of the NYA, Mr Emmanuel Sodja Mantey, said the workshop was to get many more people to understand the issues of sexual and gender-based violence and gender equality and to work to adopt the right attitudes to all people.