Critical reflections on erotic content in Star FM’s Couples quality time and Ya FM’s Moto mubhurugwa (fire in underwear)

Sex Gospel in Zimbabwe’s Pentecostal Christianity as a Response to Social Change: The Case of Apostle Kapandura and Mai Lucia Gunguwo

“…In any case, pornography is as old as human history, but it is not consumed anywhere anyhow. Thus, whereas communication technologies and social media are said to permit the extension of space and blur the social and spatial demarcations dividing different publics where vulgarised and sexualised discourse may be permissible (Mpofu and Salawu, 2020a), we argue that social media is also used in a socially compartmentalised mode.…”

“…The pre-Christian Shona society had well-defined and functional cultural institutions and spaces for proactive and systematic transmission of sexual knowledge and skills, and resolution of sexually oriented problems (Mpofu and Salawu, 2020a). The institutions were made up of strategic figures of the extended family comprising grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts and uncles.…”

“…Kaye and Sapolsky (2009) contend that profanity is deployed to entertain and attract attention. For instance, Mpofu and Salawu (2020a) show how erotic content on new generation radio stations in Zimbabwe is strategically deployed to penetrate a competitive broadcasting market. Parwaringira and Mpofu (2021a) demonstrate the expediency of vulgarity in Zimdancehall artists' expressions of creative power and how it has been used to gain fame in a highly competitive music industry with established musicians.…”

“…Sexualised and vulgarised discourses containing explicit portrayals of human sexual organs, sex positions and human excretion are culturally deemed vulgar, uncouth and offensive, and therefore not permissible in the Shona people’s broad public space (Mpofu and Salawu, 2020a; Parwaringira and Mpofu, 2021a, 2021b). Vulgar refers to unrefined and offensive language that is morally crude, derogatory, rude, taboo, or obscene (Eder et al, 2019).…”

“…The presence of sexuality and vulgarity in the public domain is a controversial subject, and scholars, parents, religious figures and other stakeholders have objected to the increased sexual and pornographic content in public spaces such as the media (Bayraktar, 2013). Existing studies in Zimbabwe have focused on sexualised content in African language broadcasting (Mpofu and Salawu, 2020a, 2020b) and vulgarity in Zimdancehall (Parwaringira and Mpofu, 2021a, 2021b). No study known to us has interrogated the presence of vulgarity in Pentecostal Christian sex gospel.…”