Just over a week ago the police announced that Mark Camilleri, the 21-year-old University student editor of Ir-Realtà, will be charged for distributing obscene pornographic material and injuring public morals under both the Criminal Code and the Press Act.
For the Criminal charge he faces a prison term of up to six months and a fine of up to €465.87, while the Press Act contemplates a maximum of three months in prison and a fine.
This storm in a teacup arose because of a short story written by Alex Vella Gera which Camilleri included in a recent edition of the newspaper he edits. I have to admit that I had not read the narrative, but when I found out about this turn of events I looked it up online. A story that could lead to a young man spending six months in jail had to be some piece of work.
In summary, the account is about a 35-year-old man who is obsessed with sex. His tale consists of one cliché after another. He eagerly awaits the arrival of foreign students every summer, since they are “easier” than local girls. He does not use condoms, even though he is aware of the risks, and in fact at one point he gets an STD after an encounter with a sex-crazed German woman. Finally the sex fanatic meets a Maltese girl and falls in love. However his obsession with sex destroys the relationship and the girl leaves him.
The story made me feel sad. Yes, sad. Not disgusted, nor humiliated, nor abused. My morals were not injured in any way whatsoever.
I just felt saddened that the protagonist, and people like him, had no concept whatsoever about the true meaning of intimacy. This man would probably never experience the happiness that an enduring relationship brings, because his warped vision of sex and relationships will never allow it.
People who profess to be shocked and disgusted by the language used in the story must be living in a bubble, a rarefied environment where they do not come across young men who are like the character in the story. Whether we like it or not, the vernacular used in the story is true to the way these people speak. The language is vulgar and verging on the unacceptable; because that is the way such men talk about sex.
As far as I am concerned the story gives the reader an interesting insight into the lives and opinions of the many promiscuous young people we have in Malta. It tackles real issues such as the fact that several youngsters are having unprotected sex and getting STDs.
If it were up to me I would print several copies of the story and send it to some key decision-makers.
The first recipient would be Tonio Fenech and all the penny-pinchers who talked him into withdrawing the €1.5 million funding that was required to finally implement a National Sexual Health Policy. Believe it or not, it has taken over 10 years to come up with a workable draft of this policy – however without funds nothing can be done.
So we will continue in the current situation, where over 42% of young people in Malta admit to having casual sexual encounters, with 70% of them using no protection whatsoever. The Genitourinary Clinic at Sir Paul Boffa Hospital is seeing more and more patients every year and the incidence of gonorrhoea, syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases has increased dramatically.
It would also be a good idea to give copies to the new ministers of health and social policy, if and when they are appointed. Hopefully the story will open their eyes and ensure that they keep the National Sexual Health Policy on their agenda.
The second recipient would be Edwin Vassallo and his team of optimistic colleagues in the parliamentary Social Affairs Committee, who apparently believe that it is impossible for mothers not to know who fathered their child. Believe it or not, our elected representatives have never heard of one-night stands. They are not aware of the many couples who meet up in bars and drift down to the beach in Paceville for casual sexual encounters – often without even knowing each other’s name. Most of them do not use condoms, just like the protagonist in the story – and in some cases, nine months later the product of their encounter becomes yet another statistic for our politicians to pontificate about. Another fatherless child.
The third recipient would be Dolores Cristina, who has the power to make a difference and launch a serious sex education campaign in our schools. She probably also has the clout to force the Curia’s education secretariat to instruct Church schools to distribute WHO’s sexual behaviour survey to Form I, III and V pupils. It is a matter of shame that we have no reliable statistics and information about the sexual behaviour and health of young people under 15 in Malta. Perhaps the authorities believe that if they do not know about it, they can pretend that the problem does not exist. Better be unaware of what under-15s are truly up to, because the truth could be too hard to stomach!
This week we heard that in 2009, 12 schoolchildren under the age of 15 committed sexual offences against 14 students (one of the victims was a four-year-old) while at school. Can we really afford to continue burying our heads in the sand?
I would also send a copy to Archbishop Paul Cremona, to open his eyes to one of the reasons so many marriages are breaking down. However, I am pretty certain that it would be a waste of paper because someone is sure to intercept it and the story would never make it to his desk.
To cut a long story short, there was no pleasant or sanitised way of portraying the situation that Alex Vella Gera tackled in his story. He had no option other than to use that language and to mention the sexual acts he did. Had he not, the story would not be realistic.
Unfortunately the puritans amongst us simply do not have the maturity to see the story for what it is – an indictment of the way of life of the protagonist.
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