Ghana and the Disturbing Culture of Recording Private Sexual Encounters

Hello Ghana!

What has happened to our sense of privacy, dignity and decency?

There is growing concern over the disturbing practice of recording private sexual encounters and, in some cases, deliberately sharing or threatening to share such intimate content with others. It raises an important question: How did we get here, and when did private moments become public entertainment?

Intimacy is meant to remain private. Yet, increasingly, some people appear willing to turn deeply personal encounters into recordings that can later be circulated, used to embarrass others or, even worse, become tools for blackmail and extortion.

If anyone genuinely wants an audience for their private activities, then perhaps they should open their doors and windows and invite the public to watch. Better still, they could hire the Accra Sports Stadium for such an unnecessary spectacle. The absurdity of the suggestion makes the point: not everything that happens in private belongs in the public domain.

Beyond the moral questions, there are serious legal and human consequences. Deliberately recording, distributing or threatening to distribute intimate material without the consent of the person involved can cause profound humiliation and lasting harm. Where such material is used to threaten, extort or blackmail someone, the matter becomes even more serious and should be treated accordingly by the appropriate authorities.

The Ghana Police Service and other relevant institutions must therefore continue to take reports of non-consensual sharing of intimate content seriously. Victims should not be made to feel ashamed or blamed for another person's deliberate abuse of their privacy.

At the same time, society must have a broader conversation about respect, consent and responsible use of technology. A smartphone may make it easy to record something, but ease of recording does not make it right to record. And having a recording does not give anyone the moral or legal right to distribute it.

We must also teach young people that digital actions can have real-world consequences. Once private content is released, it can spread rapidly and remain beyond the control of the people involved.

As a society, we must rediscover the value of discretion.

Not everything that happens in private needs to become content for public consumption.

Let us respect ourselves. Let us respect consent. And, most importantly, let us respect the privacy and dignity of others.

Let us live with dignity.

Thank you.