Mama Salone Blog is committed to promoting, advocating, and defending girls and women in Sierra Leone. But above all, Mama Salone Blog stands against oppression, injustice, and unfairness against anyone, regardless of gender, race, or creed. Therefore, it will be remiss of us not to address the issue of certain Sierra Leonean women engaging in wrongful cyber bullying tactics as weapons against men; these are acts that we condemn when perpetrated by men against women.
In 2019, while in Freetown, I learned that a middle-aged married man who had been in a secret relationship with a young woman, had posted compromising photos of the young woman on social media, after she ended the relationship. Of course, I was not about to turn a blind eye to such a disgusting behavior; I promptly escorted the young woman to the police station where she reported and the police dealt with the matter.
It is disheartening to find that disgusting acts that we condemn when committed by men against women, are being perpetrated by women against men in Sierra Leone. In addition to vengeance, the desperation of women who seek social media fame and attention is adding fuel to this ugly flame. It is becoming an ugly trend among these types of Sierra Leonean women, who think they rule social media, to disgrace, expose or otherwise shame the men when their relationships do not go as the women want.
We all remember the naked photos of prominent Sierra Leonean men that went viral on social media, allegedly taken and shared by women who were supposedly intimate friends of those men. But this behavior is not perpetrated only against politicians or prominent men, it is fast becoming the trend among certain women, especially women who are hungry for fame and some who find themselves unhappy in their relationships with men to whom they are not married.
A recent example is that of a popular social media strip dancer (she strips almost naked in most of her twerking dance videos). She took to social media and online newspapers to cry foul about her so called “longtime boyfriend” dumping her to marry another woman. To pitch her pity party to her social media followers, she posted very personal cozy photos of herself with the so-called boyfriend during what clearly seemed like their private moments together. Her followers’ sympathy-clicks and sharing were obviously great motivating factors for her ugly act.
The photos she shared were clearly photos that were neither previously shared on her social media posts nor on the social media posts of the young man in question. Her motive to gain sympathy-clicks and shares on social media became obvious a couple of days after pity partying with her sympathizing fans. Her lamenting post and photos were shared widely, some fans acted as judges and juries in her case against the unsuspecting young man. However, thank God for decency still being part of Sierra Leonean culture, many of her followers berated her for airing such a personal issue (even if true) on social media, at the expense of the young man. But many also recognized it as a click-baiting, fame-seeking stunt.
These criticisms led her to post a message on FB complaining that people were more enthusiastic to share her bad news than her dancing videos and was urging fans to now forget about her previous post about her so-called boyfriend to focus on her strip dancing, twerking videos.
While she enjoyed the added attention (both favorable and unfavorable), which for a stripper, all attention is good, the young man in question was paying a high price with his conservative Muslim family. Many of the young man’s family expressed shock upon seeing intimate photos of him on social media, which they found distasteful, especially when he is not married to the celebrity seeking woman.
Without any apologies, show of regret or remorse, the stripper goes back to her strip dancing and twerking on social media. She obviously cares nothing about how her ugly action has affected the young man and his family and all decent folks who may have been offended by her repugnant act.
So, if you are a man who fancies fame-hungry women in Sierra Leone or even non-social media celebrity wannabes, know that your private moments and mementos will surely land on social media for public consumption, the day things do not go her way.
LOVERS BEWARE, CYBER BULLYING IS THE FAME-SEEKING SALONE WOMAN’S NEW WEAPON!!
MAMA SALONE ~ Lioness of the West Coast 