News

The myth of sexual pleasure

Published

5 years ago

December 3, 2019

…Basotho women still going to painful lengths to please men…

MASERU – MANY Basotho women are going to painful lengths to please men, and hopefully themselves.
For labia minora elongation enthusiasts, it is a matter of necessary pain, and then pleasure. But for some, the perceived pleasure has been illusive and it has all ended in pain and loss of confidence.

By the age of 10, Lineo* was already regularly pulling her labia minora.
The 26-year-old woman, who spoke on condition that her real name was not published, said her mother made a fuss teaching her how to elongate her labia minora a priority.

The longer they are, the longer the husband will stay, the mother reasoned. It didn’t turn out quite that way for Lineo.
“When I got married, my husband still cheated on me within a year of our marriage despite having pulled my labia,” she said.
She was pained and her confidence dropped to an all-time low. Lineo said she now doubts the belief that an elongated labia helps keep the man.
“I am not sure anymore whether having long labia is important at all,” she told thepost.

Yet, from a young age she had endured the pain of routinely pulling her labia minora – the inner lips of the female genitalia – as demanded by those close to her.
For them, the pain was necessary to enjoy married life later. Men love women with longer labia minora and because they get so much sexual satisfaction from it, they will hang around longer and will not cheat, at least according to advocates of the practice.
As a juvenile, Lineo was taught how to do it by her mother.
“I tried pulling them but stopped half way due to the pain I was feeling,” she said.

Lineo also noticed that her sisters always pulled them at the river and she concluded that it was the normal thing to do.
She said when she was 15, her friends had already “sufficiently” pulled theirs and they mocked her for being different.
Taking a bath in the presence of older women was torture as they would taunt her for having short labia minora.

“They only told me it is part of the Basotho culture and that it will help to make things easier during childbirth,” she said.
Feeling hurt and desperate to end the isolation, she took to the practice more vigorously.
Friends informed her of the other perceived benefit, explaining to her how it increased sexual pleasure to make the boyfriend or future husband always stick around.

“I then decided to pull them despite the pain,” she said.
Daily, she would religiously pull them before going to bed.
“I got used to pulling them and every time the pain became less until I felt they were long enough,” she said.

Feminists say this is a sign of how Lesotho and many eastern and southern African countries where the practice is rife are still rooted in patriarchy, with women viewed as existing for the sexual pleasure of men. Others who support the practice argue that the pleasure is for both partners.
Some researchers found that although the practice is widespread, the benefits are less visible.

A Nelson Mandela University researcher, Dr ’Mathabo Khau, interviewed at least three women about the practice. She published the results in her paper titled ‘Female sexual pleasure and autonomy: What has inner labia elongation got to do with it?’ in 2012.

Most of her participants spoke of pain and the promises of future pleasure.
One woman she called Limpho said: I hated those times when we went to the woods for ﬁrewood and then they would start showing off their lengthy inner labia …we would sit in circles and see how many twists one could make with their labia.

Another one she called Lineo said: Yes we did that too. The most desirable was three or more twists. We also checked how far they could go backwards if you pull them towards your buttocks …you know …like a pad.
Thato said: I was always teased and insulted by the other girls because I could not get my labia long enough. It was painful to pull them and that is why I ended up pulling the clitoris instead.

I was ashamed to walk in the village because I thought everyone knew the small size of my inner labia. I never even thought I would get married.
Limpho: Me too …and the worst part was I could not tell my mother about all the discrimination and teasing from the other girls. She would have beaten me as well. I had to keep quiet about it.
All the women Dr Khau interviewed said they elongated their labia despite the pain.

Limpho said she was afraid “all the bad things that would happen to me if I did not elongate my labia”.
“I just had to do it despite the pain.”
Lineo said she only pulled the labia because she was afraid of not getting married.
There is a myth among Basotho women that if the labia were not long the woman’s vagina would be cold and her husband would not enjoy having sex with her.

Thato said it was “painful to pull those things but I did it because I did not want to be cold”. A woman without elongated inner labia was, and is still disparagingly called a “cold woman”.
The women who participated in the research also argued that upon ﬁnding a woman without elongated inner labia, a Mosotho man would say ‘kobo li nyane kea hatsela’ meaning “I am feeling cold because the blankets are too small”.

According to some, such a man would be justiﬁed to look for another woman with elongated inner labia or “blankets” and by implication not “cold”.
Dr Khau said she is “troubled by the apparent silence on labial elongation and its effects on female sexual desire and pleasure”.
The matter also invokes the issue of human rights, she said.

Dr Khau said she is troubled by the argument that if women elongate their labia freely then the practice is not viewed as violating their rights.
“If girls are expected to start elongating their inner labia before the ﬁrst menstrual period, then the legitimacy of free and consensual elongation stands to question,” she argued.
“How free can an eight-year-old be to decide for or against labial elongation? If it is a rite of passage into womanhood, then it means those women who do not conform are supposedly not complete women.”

She said despite the many debates raised on labial elongation, little has been written about its role in the construction of female sexual identity, and more specifically, in relation to sexual pleasure, eroticism and desire among women.

“I have personal experiences relating to it and it is of importance to my development as a woman, mother and scholar-teacher,” she said.
She also found that some Basotho people believed that elongated inner labia made girls less sexually excitable because elongating forced the clitoris to retract into the labial folds.

“This practice was used to keep girls and women ‘good’. Thus the main reason behind inner labia elongation has been the need to control female sexuality,” she said.
She observed that young girls were not given this information.
“As a Mosotho woman having gone through this practice, I do not think I would have elongated my inner labia given this reason.”

She also found that Basotho women used labial elongation as contraception because it prevented girls from desiring and enjoying sex.
“This argument was valid during the days when other forms of contraception were not available,” she said.

“One wonders, however, whether on getting married the young woman with elongated labia was expected to enjoy sex with her husband or just to please him.”
In Lesotho there is no law barring or encouraging mothers to elongate their young daughters’ labia – it is a parental choice.
* Not her real name

’Makhotso Rakotsoane

News

Knives out for Molelle

Published

6 days ago

January 13, 2025

The Post

MASERU

KNORX Molelle’s appointment as the Director General of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) in February 2023 could have been illegal.

The Law Society of Lesotho has told Prime Minister Sam Matekane that Molelle was appointed without being admitted as a legal practitioner in Lesotho, as required by law.

The society claims the information came from a whistleblower on January 2 and was corroborated by its roll of legal practitioners in Lesotho.

The society says the appointment violates section 4 of the Prevention of Corruption and Economic Offences Act 1999 which states that a person shall not be appointed as the DCEO director general unless they have been admitted as a legal practitioner in terms of the Legal Practitioners Act.

In the letter, Advocate Ithabeleng Phamotse, the society’s secretary, tells Matekane that this requirement “is not a mere procedural formality but a substantive qualification essential to the lawful appointment of the Director General”.

“The absence of such qualification fatally impairs the appointment ab initio, rendering it null and void from the outset,” Advocate Phamotse says in the letter written on Tuesday.

The society argues that if left unaddressed the illegality undermines the credibility, effectiveness and legality of the DCEO’s operations and exposes the kingdom to serious risks, including challenges to the lawfulness of decisions and actions made by Molelle.

“Should it be confirmed that the appointment was made in contravention of the mandatory legal requirements,” Advocate Phamotse said, “we respectfully urge you to take immediate corrective action to rectify this glaring irregularity”.

Advocate Phamotse tells the prime minister that if the appointment is not corrected, the society would be “left with no alternative but to institute legal proceedings to protect the interests of justice and uphold the rule of law in Lesotho”.

“We trust that you will accord this matter your highest priority and act decisively to avert further damage to the integrity of our governance structures.”

The Prime Minister’s spokesman, Thapelo Mabote, said they received the letter but Matekane had not yet read it yesterday.

Matekane is on leave and is expected back in the office on January 14.

Questions over the validity of his appointment come as Molelle is being haunted by the damaging audio clips that were leaked last week.

The clips were clandestinely recorded by Basotho National Party leader, Machesetsa Mofomobe.

In some of the clips, Molelle appears to be describing Matekane and his deputy Justice Nthomeng Majara as idiots. He also appears to be calling Law Minister Richard Ramoeletsi a devil.

In other clips, he seems to be discussing cases. thepost has not independently verified the authenticity of the audio clips.

Staff Reporter

News

Massive salary hike for chiefs

Published

6 days ago

January 13, 2025

The Post

MASERU

THE government has increased the salaries for traditional leaders by a massive 88.5 percent.

This means that a village chief not appointed by a gazette will now earn M3 001 a month, up from the previous salary of M1 592. That means village chiefs will now earn an extra M1 409 per month.

A village chief, or headman, appointed by a gazette has moved from M1 966 to M3 567 per month.

Above a village chief is one with jurisdiction over a small cluster of villages, a category three chief, who now moves from M3 768 to M5 181 per month.

A category four chief, known as ward chief, has moved from M4 455 per month to M7 993.

The category five chief, who reports directly to a principal chief, will now earn M10 674, up from M9 939 per month.

There is no increment for principal chiefs.

The government says the budget for chiefs’ salaries has moved from M129.4 million to M208.3 million annually.

The hike follows a series of discussions between the Lesotho Workers Association, representing the chiefs, and the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftainship.

The revised salaries will be implemented with effect from April 1, 2025.

According to the settlement agreement, a discussion about raising the lowest salary of M6 000 for the lowest-ranking chiefs will be revisited in October 2025.

Chiefs who spoke to thepost have expressed satisfaction with the hike, saying it will significantly improve their lives.

Chief Mopeli Matsoso of Ha-Tikoe in Maseru said his previous salary of M1 500 per month would now be doubled, which would improve his life and help provide smoother services to the community.

He stressed that they used to close the offices while going out looking for jobs to compensate for their little salaries.

“Now the people will get smoother services,” Chief Matsoso said.

“The offices will forever be open,” he said.

Chief Matsoso said the salary hike will also serve as a motivation for other chiefs.

Chief Tumo Majara of Liboping, Mokhethoaneng, also expressed his gratitude.

Chief Majara acknowledge the positive impact the salary review would have, especially as a new officeholder.

“I guess we are all happy, that review will help a lot,” he said.

The Principal Chief of Thaba-Bosiu, Khoabane Theko, said the salary increase of chief is a welcome move by the government.

“I’m yet to study how the new salary structure looks like. But I welcome it as a good move by the government,”Chief Theko said.

Nkheli Liphoto

News

Maqelepo says suspension deeply flawed

Published

6 days ago

January 13, 2025

The Post

MASERU

Motlatsi Maqelepo, the embattled Basotho Action Party (BAP) deputy leader and Tello Kibane, who was the party chairman, have rejected their suspension from the party arguing it was legally flawed.

The BAP’s central executive committee on Tuesday suspended Maqelepo for seven years and Kibane for five years. The suspensions became effective on the same day.

The party’s disciplinary committee which met last Wednesday had recommended an expulsion for the two but that decision was rejected with the committee pushing for a lengthy suspension.

Maqelepo’s suspension will end on January 7, 2032 while Kibane’s will run until January 7, 2030.

Their suspension letters from the BAP deputy secretary general Victoria Qheku, say they should not participate in any of the party’s activities.

“In effect, you are relieved of your responsibility as a CEC member and BAP deputy leader,” Maqelepo was told in the letter.

“You were found guilty by default on all charges and the committee recommended your immediate dismissal from the party,” the letter reads.

On Kibane, the verdict states that the committee decided to mitigate the recommended sanction by reducing his suspension to five years.

“In the gravity of the charges, the suspension affects your membership in the BAP parliamentary caucus from which you are removed as a chairman.”

They were suspended in absentia after they refused to attend the disciplinary hearing, which they said was illegal.

In response to the suspension, Maqelepo wrote a letter addressing the BAP members in general, defying the committee’s decision to suspend them.

He has called for a special conference, appealing to party constituencies to push for it, citing the ongoing internal fight that includes the leadership’s decision to withdraw the BAP from the coalition government.

Maqelepo also said the central executive committee is illegally in a campaign to dissolve committees in the constituencies and replace them with stooges.

He reminded the members that there is a court case pending in the High Court seeking an interdiction to charge them in the party’s structures without approval of the special conference that he is calling.

He said the party leadership should have awaited the outcome of the case before proceeding with any disciplinary action.

“The party that is led by a professor of law continues to do dismissals despite the issue being taken to the courts,” Maqelepo said.

The party leader, Professor Nqosa Mahao, is a distinguished professor of law.

Maqelepo said they would write the central executive committee rejecting its decision to suspend them, saying they will continue taking part in party activities.

He said their fate in the party is in the hands of the special conference.

He appealed to all the party constituencies to continue writing letters demanding the special conference.

Both Maqelepo and Kibane received letters on November 28 last year inviting them to show cause why they should not be suspended pending their hearing.

They both responded on the following day refusing to attend.

Maqelepo, Kibane, Hilda Van Rooyen, and ’Mamoipone Senauoane are accused of supporting a move to remove Professor Mahao from his ministerial position last year.

They were part of the BAP members who asked Prime Minister Sam Matekane to fire Professor Mahao, who at the same time was pushing for the reshuffling of Tankiso Phapano, the principal secretary for the Ministry of Energy.

When Matekane ignored Professor Mahao’s demands, the latter withdrew the BAP from the coalition government much to the fierce resistance of the party’s four MPs.

Maqelepo started touting members from constituencies to call for a special conference to reverse Professor Mahao and the central executive committee’s decision.

The central executive committee issued a circular stopping Maqelepo’s rallies but he continued, with the support of the other MPs.

In the BAP caucus of six MPs, it is only Professor Mahao and ’Manyaneso Taole who are supporting the withdrawal from the government.

Nkheli Liphoto