A horrific video has been making rounds on the internet about a teenager, who was believed to be a witch because he is blessed with a full functional female and male underdeveloped genitals.
The video which was sent in showed the teenager intersex being assaulted after properly being intimidated into raping by man also caught together. The language of his tormentors was like that being spoken in Delta State, Nigeria.
This is wrong and we frown against it. It is important for our people to know that not all things should be tagged ‘witch’, especially in Nigeria where it is a common habit for things we can’t explain.
There are still many in the world that are aversed to the issue of same sex relationship, and Nigeria is not left out.
However, we would like to implore you to be very discerning in carrying out jungle justice on perceived perverts due to their sexual orientation.
Kindly note that there are transgender, simply written as trans, and Hermaphrodite or intersex.
While being trans is by choice and majorly frowned at, intersex is not.
It is therefore suggested that people are educated about these set of people before tagging all of them witch. And ofcourse we know how witches are treated: Jungle justice!
Trans are different than the Hermaphrodite in a way that the hermaphrodite are born in a way that their gender is not identified or is incomplete due to their biological characteristics.
Hermaphrodite or intersex is the ones who have both the characteristics of a man and woman in themselves. They have some sex organs of a male and some are of females or vice versa.
There’s another kind of intersex in which they are incomplete. There is a male hermaphrodite and also a female hermaphrodite. The difference between them and a normal male and a female is that the male hermaphrodite has comparatively small or regressed sexual organs as compared to a normal male. Whereas, a female hermaphrodite has no sexual organ at all, called Lakiriboto in Yorubaland, which is why she cannot get married and cannot enjoy the pleasures of being a complete woman.
Being an intersex is not a choice. It’s a Godsend deformity which one has no control over. Yet, our society is so reluctant on accepting them as one of the creations of God.
We hereby, however, appeal to appropriate authorities, especially Delta State government and agencies to help look into the matter. After this exposure, the boy would require a safe community to live in, where he would not be judged or stigmatised.
Despite much effort and unity with some African colleagues and NGOs we can not find the origin / location of this video or the boy. We need help email info@IntersexUK.org if you have leads please.