By Nigel Nassar

MAUREEN Namatovu, Ugandaâ€™s Big Brother Africa housemate is not bothered that the continent is watching. She rips off her clothes completely and heads for a shower without a bother about Big Brotherâ€™s prying cameras. She is basically doing her thing.

Like she told Channel Oâ€™s Kabelo in her pre-house entry interview â€” she is comfortable with her body, the reason she has no problem showing it.

She has even gone an extra mile to leisurely wipe her body dry before proceeding to the bedroom to smear herself with lotion, paying special attention to her breasts.

That is what the audience love â€” and the tabloids have gone an extra mile, accentuating the nudity bit of it, some speculating who would most likely have sex on television, others capitalising on the fact that Namatovu beats them all via undressing â€” what a human race!

Nigeriaâ€™s Ofunneka has also been liberal at showing the showâ€™s fans what they want to see.

The guys too have been â€˜co-operativeâ€™. In offices, workers cram around the television when that moment comes. But whereas this much-hyped â€œshower hourâ€ is the most popular slot among Big Brother fans, the same slot happens to be most detested by moralists who contend that it is corruptive.

So it becomes a thing of controversy, with people from different schools of thought having different takes about nudity.
And the fuss continues as the shower hour is fronted as a bargaining chip to have the show banned, whereas fans elsewhere are just loving their thing and hitting back terribly through the media.

Of course MTN, the sole sponsor, continues achieving greater heights being associated with such a crowd puller.

A lot is accruing to its coffers indirectly, ditto, to Multichoiceâ€™s, whose direct collections from DStv kit sales and subscription fees have soared since the reality show kicked off on August 5.

Media Age PR, which is managing MTNâ€™s publicity of the show in Uganda is also clinging on â€” there is just a lot to cash in on from this deemed-nudity reality show.

The chain of reapers is endless. Almost no one will want to listen to the excuses that could make the show unpopular.

In 2003, when the first episode of the pan-African reality TV smash hit conquered fans all over the continent, politicians and religious leaders in Malawi forced it off air after it was deemed immoral, but its High Court overturned the ban.

Nigerian officials sought to stop local television stations from broadcasting it.
An official in the monitoring unit of the countryâ€™s National Broadcasting Commission was quoted as saying: â€œWe are not happy with the corruptive influence of the programme on our youths, our culture and moral values.â€

But the efforts hit a snag as the smash hit continued making it big. Namibia and Zambia failed to have it banned, following a strong attachment by the broadcasters since it would turn in volumes in terms of prime-time advertisement, the time the biggest portion of the audience is watching.

The 12 housemates continued winning millions of loyal fans and viewers tuned in to watch them flirt, drink, fight and make up.

In Uganda, Makerere Community Churchâ€™s Pastor Martin Sempa, was one of the most formidable enemies of the show, while then ethics and integrity minister, Tim Lwanga, tried his best to bring down the show in vain.

In fact, as the opposition mentioned nudity as the showâ€™s undoing, fans got more curious to find out how the housemates looked like when nude, which made the fuss pile on.
And more is yet to come.

The moralists are probably preparing their presentations against the show and this will definitely trigger more fan devotion if they finally break the silence.
But what is it with the human race that makes it so much attached to anything that involves nudity?

Dr Vicki Owens, a psychologist and lecturer at Makerere Universityâ€™s Institute of Psychology, argues that pornography, regardless of whether it is soft or hard, is addictive due to its arousal attributes.

She says it is for such reasons that the human mind keeps conditioning itself to get more involved in watching or reading it, which could ultimately breed addiction.

â€œNot that everyone watching or reading it is an addict, but a first time interest in it could trigger more desire towards it and someone will not actually know that they are getting addicted,â€ says Owens. â€œAt that level, even when one gets born-again, kicking out the addiction becomes very hard.â€

From a psychological point of view, a show like Big Brother could cultivate an initial interest in pornography, which an ardent fan of the show, could heighten after the show has ended.

Owens says since it is the responsibility of elders, parents, religious and political leaders to protect the society from moral degeneration, such peopleâ€™s negative stance against such shows can well be understood.

â€œWhether or not within themselves they actually like it is really personal, but they have to perform their duties. So if the show is questionable, do not expect such people to support it, especially if the youth are going to be involved in watching it.â€

So all the fuss about Big Brother, especially, the shower hour keeps mounting. Of course very few, especially the curious lot of the youth, will relent, regardless of the parental guidance.
Whether or not some people are natural exhibitionists of their bodies can, according to Owens, be explained by an individualâ€™s character traits.

But how come such people as the bushmen and the Karimojong have lived with the nudity and not made such a fuss of it?

Owens says evolution best explains such a phenomenon. Trends change as time passes by, the reason nudity was not a big deal way back in history, but culture went on shaping it into the big deal that it is.

Owensâ€™ argument, therefore, is that the culture of people where nudity is not a big deal, have not pegged much cultural value to it.

But, since culture is ever evolving. The bushmen might change their point of view one day.

Miss Kumam crowned

This is the first time a Miss Kumam competition has been held as part of such a program.

Pauline Asako and other competitors pose for a photo during a show off of miss Kumam contestants. (Photos by Michael Onyinge)

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