Sexting and Sexual Injustices against Women in Ghana: A Case of Biblical Narratives of Dinah And Tamar

Sexting and Sexual Injustices against Women in Ghana: A Case of Biblical Narratives of Dinah And Tamar

Emmanuel Twumasi-Ankrah & Joseph Gyanvi-Blay

Issue: Vol.2 No.3 March 2021 Article 1 pp. 20-26
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2021231 | Published online 26th March 2021.
© 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

485 Downloads

DOWNLOAD PDF

ABSTRACT

This paper evaluates the place of justice in sexual interactions between males and females in Ghana in particular and in Africa in general. It discusses the unfairness inherent in cases of rape, adultery and divorce and sexting in Ghana in light of African Biblical Hermeneutics. The study has discovered that issues of sexual injustices date back to ancient times with sexting being its latest dimension, especially in Ghana. Sexual injustices in any form have both cultural as well as religious connotations. Employing Narrative Criticism on the sexual stories of Dinah and Tamar in Genesis 34 and 2 Samuel 13 respectively, the study has established that the culture from which the Christian scripture originated was chauvinistic. Undoubtedly, one of the most integral causes is inherent in interpretation. The authors have therefore advocated for a reconstruction of those texts and worldviews by incorporating hermeneutics of inclusiveness and equality before God, using Jesus as the standard.

Keywords: Sexting, Sexual injustices, Biblical Hermeneutics, Biblical Narratives, Ethical.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adu-Kumi, Benjamin. “Sexuality Going Viral: Using Whatsapp as a Site for Sexual Exploration among College Students in Ghana,” An Unpublished Master of Arts Thesis Submitted to the School of Journalism and Communication of the University of Oregon, June, 2016.

Ansah, Efe Marian and Kwakofi, Edwin. “KKD’s Alleged Rape Victim Withdraws Case”, Citifmonline, January 13, 2015. Accessed January 26, 2021. https://citifmonline.com/2015/01/kkds-alleged-rape-victim-withdraws-case/

Asante, Comfort. “New Attorney General to Continue Asamoah Gyan’s Rape/Sodomy/Extortion Case Come Wednesday 26th April, 2017”, News Ghana, September, 7, 2017, Accessed December 26, 2020. https://www.ghanacelebrities.com/2017/04/24/new-attorney-general-continue-asamoah-gyans-rapesodomyextortion-case-come-wednesday-26th-april-2017/

Brownmiller, Susan. Against Our Will –Man, Women and Rape, Penguin Books: USA, 1976.

Burton, Augustus K. “The Blessing of Africa: the Bible and African Christianity,” The Journal of African American History Vol. 94, No. 1 Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Winter, 2009.

Daily Guide Network “4 Teenagers Raped Girl, 19”, Ghanaweb, May 30, 2015. Accessed February 25, 2021. https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/4-Teenagers-rape-girl-19-346215

Faibille, Egbert. “KNUST Sex Tape: Female Student’s Right Violated”, Myjoyonline., May 4, 2016. Accessed March 22, 2021, https://www.myjoyonline.com/knust-sex-tape-leak-female-students-right-.

Hornby, Sydney Albert, Ashby Michael and Wehmeier Sally. Advanced Learners’ English Dictionary (7th ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Klopper, Frances. “Rape and the Case of Dinah: Ethical Responsibilities for Reading Genesis 34”, OTE, 23/3, 2010.

Marker, Brandon Scott. “Sexting as Moral Panic: An Exploratory Study into the Media’s Construction of Sexting.” Online Theses and Dissertations, Paper 12, 2011.

Mensah, M. Augustine. The Hebrew Bible and the five books of Moses, Cape Coast: Nyakod Printing Press, 2016.

Ohene, Elizabeth. “Why I Went Public after Being Raped, 67 Years Later”, Accessed, December 15, 2020.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-50014745.

Onwu, N. “The Current State of Biblical Studies in Africa,” The Journal of Religious Thought, 42/2, 1984.

Owusu-Addo, E., Owusu-Addo, S.B., Antoh, E.F. et al. Ghanaian media coverage of violence against women and girls: Implications for Health promotion. BMC Women’s Health 18, 129 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-018-0621-1

Parry, Robin A. Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics: The Rape of Dinah as a Case Study. Milton Keynes UK: Paternoster, 2004.

Peterson-lyer, Karen. “Sexting”, Society of Christian Ethics, Vol. 33, No. 2, Fall/Winter, 2013.

Quarshie, S,“Church Elder Involved in Sex Tape Saga”, January 29, 2015. Accessed, March 22, 2021.
https://www.pulse.com.gh/filla/shocking-church-elder-involved-in-sex-tape-saga/ldhqjqb

Scholz, Susanne. “Through Whose Eyes? A ‘Right’ Reading of Genesis 34.” Pages 150-171 in Genesis: A Feminist Companion to the Bible. Edited by A. Brenner, Sheffield; Sheffield Academic Press, 1998.

________. Sacred Witness. Rape in the Hebrew Bible. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010.

Schroeder, Joy A. Dinah’s Lament: The Biblical Legacy of Sexual Violence in Christian Interpretation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007.

Sumaila Nlasia, Michael. “Inadequacies of the Definitions of Sexual Offences in the Criminal Offences Act”, Ghana Law Hub, April, 29, 2019. Accessed December 15, 2020. https://ghanalawhub.com/inadequacies-of-the-definitions-of-sexual-offences-in-the-criminal-offences-act/

Taylor, Marion A. & Weir E. Heather. Let her Speak for Herself: Nineteenth-Century Women Writing on Women of Genesis. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2006.

AUTHOR(S)

Emmanuel Twumasi-Ankrah is a lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities, Department of Theology at the Christian Service University College, Kumasi-Ghana and a PhD candidate at the Religious Studies Department of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, majoring in Old Testament and Biblical Hebrew.

Joseph Gyanvi-Blay is a lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities, Department of Theology at the Christian Service University College, Kumasi-Ghana. He holds both M. A and MPhil. In Religion and Human Values from the University of Cape Coast. jgblay@csuc.edu.gh

TO CITE ARTICLE

Twumasi-Ankrah E. & Gyanvi-Blay, J., “Sexting and Sexual Injustices against Women in Ghana: A Case of Biblical Narratives of Dinah And Tamar,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 2, no.3 (2021): 20-26. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2021231