I once watched a video of a priest investigating the causes of homosexuality, and he linked childhood masturbation as one of the main contributors to homosexuality.
The preacher promised to write a book on the subject. After listening carefully to his oration, I began asking myself whether there was a nexus between the two, and here is my take.
It is indisputable that childhood upbringing defines an individual’s adulthood character. It is also accepted that childhood is a human development stage that is most vulnerable to manipulations since it is at an epoch that is most impressionable.
So, children tend to have mentors and role models, and if those leaders are queer, they will likely groom the youth to acquire homosexuality tendencies. Depending on how deep and engaging those sexual assaults are, some kids may recover from the sexual violations while others may be trapped.
Foodstuffs have also been tied to the acquisition of homosexual behaviours. We know that the ingestion of certain types of food may suppress or promote the development of certain hormones that are associated with gender conformity.
The most important ones in gender determination are testosterone hormones. Testosterone drives masculinity in men and is a sex hormone indispensable for fertility, sexual function, bone health, and muscle mass.
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A person’s testosterone level naturally falls with age, but some medical conditions, lifestyle choices, and other factors can influence the amount of this hormone in the body.
The more testosterone in a man’s body, the more he exudes male characters, and the less of the same, the more he oozes female ones. Foodstuffs linked to higher testosterone levels include fatty fish and fish oils, milk and dairy products, legumes, dark leafy greens, honey, onions and eggs.
On the contrary, the following foodstuffs have been identified as boosting low testosterone. These include most foods with saturated fats, processed red meat, and others that tend to have very high cholesterol levels.
Diminished testosterone levels can be seen with the affected individuals losing male characteristics: reduced sex drive, erectile dysfunction, low sperm count, and enlarged or swollen breast tissue.
Over time, these symptoms may develop in the following ways: loss of body hair, loss of muscle bulk, loss of strength and increased body fat.
Learning from the types of foods we eat, there is a growing tendency to shift from raw foods to industrially processed ones, which adds more high cholesterol, which is an inhibitor or suppressant of testosterone’s growth.
Another angle worth considering is the newly introduced industrially made meat, vegetables, and fruits, or genetically modified versions of the same.
While studying the impacts of man-made interference in the food chain is still in its infancy stage, we should ask ourselves critical questions.
As we drift away from the natural foodstuffs what side effects are we introducing into the food chains? Are we not wilful perpetrators of the hormonal imbalances that are a growing problem in society, today?
In the past, when there was almost no interference with the food chains, cases of transiting to the opposite gender were unheard of. Can food contribute to how we feel about our sexuality?
Nowadays, there is a surge of people who feel they belong to the opposite sex and are so traumatized that falling into the surgeon’s knife becomes a compulsory relief.
The sad part of this story is that most trans people are never satisfied with their new gender and keep asserting it sometimes in violent and horrific manners.
They insist and assert being addressed in arcane ways, and when you error to do just that, they complain, pointing fingers at you and sometimes roughing you up.
Some of those who changed their gender at a very tender age tend to blame their parents or guardians for not properly advising them.
They feel cheated, and the cost of acting and the deception of being on the opposite gender take their toll. Cases of suicide from those who hated their transited gender are spiking.
Masturbation is a reaction to sexual arousal that a variety of experiences may cause. One may have indulged in watching phonographic materials, premature sexual intercourse or fantasizing about a sexually attractive person. In all these sexual engagements, there is a desire to validate oneself.
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It is an artificial orgasmic climax that leaves the person dissatisfied, and addiction becomes a norm rather than an exception.
It is a conduct that is likely to be abandoned after the participant secures a willing sexual partner of the opposite sex. In rare circumstances, the habit hooks the indulgent person into a lifetime occupation!
Clearly, the sources and catalysts behind homosexuality and masturbation are different. The former is traced to peer pressure and corrupted foodstuffs, and there is another area seldom covered: prostitution.
The latter is more about self-sexual gratification that attempts to erase the lack or deficiency of having a sexual partner at the time sexual pangs torment one.
Masturbation can also tip the scales of the embattled explorer restrained by poor communication skills or lack of self-confidence or dicey and leery of rejection: the inability or unwillingness to seduce the opposite sex for sexual bouts.
The prostitution angle of homosexuality is rarely discussed but is now a growing concern. Some scholars on the matter argue that homosexuality was not African.
That kind of thinking is misplaced. If that was true, Kabaka Mutesa III of Uganda would not have killed the twelve male martyrs who refused his sexual advances.
These were young males serving him but were adamant the King’s sexual aberrations would not defile their bodies. It cost them their lives when they were set on fire for their Christian faith. In this particular case, a foreign religion, Christianity, rebuked African homosexuality.
Had the Ugandan twelve martyrs succumbed to the Mutesa’s sexual advances, they would have been sumptuously rewarded. Still, they chose to suffer for their Christian faith rather than enjoy the temporary delicacies at the King’s high table.
In modern Africa, male prostitution is surging because employment opportunities are fewer and far between. So, to advance social standing, homosexual-like favours are extorted and sometimes granted.
Others seek workplace promotion and surrender themselves to those with decision-making powers. In such cases, bisexuality is being practised where a male plays double roles of sexual encounters with men and women alike.
The axis of homosexuality and masturbation is flimsy so far, albeit a smaller number of those who masturbate may also join the ranks of those who are involved in homosexuality.
In such situations, the reasons will be different. Upbringing, foodstuffs and financial motives power homosexuality, with witchcraft emerging as a secondary enticement.
Witch doctors lure their lustful and avaricious victims into accepting homosexuality as a satanic sacrifice to gain power, money and authority. In most of these cases, it is a witch doctor who does the ultimate damage and rarely instructs his perceived “patients” to seek such services from elsewhere.
No wonder Africa, let alone Tanzania, without HIV and AIDS, is a mere pipe dream left to lip service in political platitudes. We have too many dry bones to revive before we can envision Africa as possible without the scourge.
The clarion of “Tanzania bila ukimwi inawezekana” underestimates the spiritual challenges that beset us. Sexual immorality is a spiritual battle that can only be won once it is beamed with spiritual lenses, but man-made toil is embracing and capitulating into a total pasting.
