Hey Ladies?..

Let me start off first by saying this. I?m not one to usually voice my opinions and usually bite my tongue instead of saying the first thing that pops into my head. People can criticize me, embarrass me and talk about me behind my back and I?ll still keep my mouth shut. But I can?t do that anymore.

I was at work one morning a couple of weeks ago and decided to check out the Ghanaweb homepage. As I usually do, I checked the news in Ghana and then proceeded to check the ?Ghanaians Abroad? page. I noticed two new links: one saying ?Ghana Ladies? and another saying ?Ghana Guys?. My interest piqued as I?m sure many other people?s interest were piqued and I clicked on the Ghana ladies link to see what it was all about. I saw a whole page of pictures pop up of Ghanaian ladies. As I clicked on the pictures of the ladies, I increasingly became embarrassed. Some of the ladies were posing in sexually compromising positions, others were wearing skimpy clothing and revealing lingerie. I quickly closed the Ghanaweb browser and looked out into the hallway to make sure no one had seen me. I felt guilty looking at those pictures. What if my boss had seen me? What would he think? I couldn?t stop thinking about these pictures all day. Why would Ghanaweb allow such revealing photos to be posted on their website? And why didn?t these girls mind posting these photographs on a very public site? Was this a true representation of Ghanaian ladies living abroad or a lady in general? Is this what people would think of me when they pulled up these pictures? Granted, all the ladies were not in revealing clothes and many were very nicely dressed without showing off their bodies. But as Ghanaian women we need to think of the impression that we are giving to the people who use Ghanaweb as a source of information. Is this the representation that we want to give?

Let me also mention here that this is not the first time that this has happened. I have often run across scantily clad women in the Ghana classifieds section when searching for various events and programs. When a party is being advertised, many times one is bound to find a young lady in revealing clothes as part of the advertisement. Why is this necessary to advertise an event? Yes, it?s true that Ghanaweb is not purely a news site but also includes entertainment, forums and other features. But for many people not from Ghana, this is where they come as a source of reliable and trustworthy information. What type of image are we trying to represent to those on the outside?

And for the fellas, I haven?t forgotten about you. Yes I know you want to show off your wonderful six packs and biceps that you have worked so hard to obtain. But a nice smile can go a really long way in getting a girl?s or anyone else?s attention (see Lov3r boy on Ghana Guys). Let us not turn parts of the Ghanaweb homepage into a soft pornographic site. Let us portray the beauty of our people and culture in a morally upstanding way that many in Ghana and across the globe have come to expect.

-Susanna Ebiasah (Silver Spring, Maryland)

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.