In some African Traditions, it is believed that any girl whose virginity is lost before marriage is considered a disgrace to her family and thus no man wills to ask for her hand in marriage. Such girls eventually end up in frustration and total melancholic isolation because even their very own parents regard them as some sort of blacksheep and curse in their families. They are oftenly burdened with the task of being househelps to either their parents or relatives as they impatiently anticipate a day when a good samaritan (by a narrow chance), unawares of their plight, might come around to woo them. These girls, who could sometimes live upto the age of forties and even fifties, often face harassment from the people around them who toment them and call them all sorts of names like ‘sharmuut,’ (whore), ‘kisi’ (illegitimate) – those who get impregnanted out of wedlock. They get used to untold suffering and because nobody accedes to rulling anything in their favour, whatever their lamentations are fall on deaf ears and moreso on sacasm grounds. Their lives are precisely what can be termed as ‘femininity degradation.’
Quite some decades back, there was this story of a 13-year-old girl named Arganne from a well-to-do family whose plight is one that leaves people feeling so sympathetic. Her sad story begun on one ecstatic occasion when her father employed a young man named Jattani as a ‘shamba boy’ to whom Arganne was so much attracted. On his first day at work, she came to him and introduced herself and offered him some milk and roasted meat. From her talk, action and laughter, it was pretty clear that she was so into him, or so the boy thought. On the same night, Arganne walked into his quarter with a plate of rice and a cup of tea. Instead of retiring back to her room, she sat on his bed and started questions about his background. Jattani, being an adolescent himself and with a craving ‘whet’ for sexual satisfaction, figured that all the girl was upto was some good loving and, with that on his mind, walked right upto her, held her arms and hugged her so intimately in an unresistable manner. The next thing she knew was that Jattani was making his way up between her thighs but when suddenly something pressed hard against her, she screamed at the top of her voice as she pushed him away. Surprisingly, nobody heard the scream as the servants’ quarter was some distance away from the house. After a little while, it was time to go slow on her and Jattani commenced by caressing her body, with most effort directed at her breasts. The caressing thing went well and Arganne went back home feeling so amazing and all smiles! This same routine went on every single night after supper and the boy perfected his skill at squeezing her boobs real well till they got so enlarged. Unfortunately, all this was happening just beneath her parents’ nose and they didn’t realise.
One fateful day when Arganne’s father returned home from a long journey, he decided to throw a party in favour of his beloved wife who just gave birth to a baby boy. And while the old men were chatting over a traditional liquor after they had had lunch, an elder studied Arganne as she walked about and raised an embarassing question that left her old man’s mouth wide open! He asked, ‘Why didn’t you tell us that you’ve sold your daughter already?’ Arganne’s father was so shocked, disillusioned and embarrassed as he also brought his focus on his big-boobed said daughter and although it downed on him who might have been responsible for her ‘disbundlement,’ he just gulped down his anger save for his old folks around.
Later that night, the old man tracked Arganne to Jattani’s quarter where he witnessed how his daughter was beind violated by such a low-life and moved by rage, he physically confronted the houseboy and left him terribly injured. The next morning saw Jattani being kicked out of the compound and Arganne cursed over and over again by her parents for her undispicable behaviour. She was thus grounded for good and made never to leave their home. In a few days time, words of her disgrace have spread over to all the neighbouring villages and because of her father’s wealthy status, even the youngest of children rumoured about Arganne’s horrible plight. The one thing, however, which only she and Jattani knew about was that she didn’t actually lose her virginity except for the broadening of her breasts which the people then misjugged for their possibiliy being huge only resulted from engaging in sexual intercourse! But when approached by the villagers to give them the account of the ‘real’ story, Jattani didn’t hesitate to embelish as well as distort the information. He narratd of how he rode her every single night from their first encounter and finished by stating that she’d soon be expecting his child! But the truth of the matter was that Arganne wasn’t convinced byJattani’s sensational seduction acts aimed at ‘crossing her border.’ She only gave into his caresses but declined being sexually exploited bearing in mind of her community’s norms regarding young girls.
When her father was beriefed of the gossip going round, he couldn’t stand it any longer and hence executed a plan he had formulated on the same night he bursted his daughter’s ‘explorer.’ He arranged a journey for his beloved wife and the liability-daughter to pay a visit to his brother who lived far away in a distant land. The plot was to dump Arganne there and return. Well, unfortunately while on her way back home, Arganne’s mother, alongside her escorts encountered a group of bandits who murdered them all and robbed them of their possession – a number of horses and some money.
With the sad news of his wife’s death and the pending disgace of his daughter, the old man was so agonised that he opted to committing suicide alleging his only option to avoiding any further curse upon his family. Immediately after his death, the elders of that village acted so fast in ‘inheriting’ his wealth and sharing it amonst themselves as his little children were so young to claim anything and the only grown up child – Arganne – was so far away to have stopped the greed and unjustified action of the elders.
Some years passed by and Arganne returned home one day only to realise of her siblings’ destitution and deterioration. Predictably, her return was unwelcomed by the villagers and she was thus looked down upon by every passerby and it was even rumoured that an aknowledgement warning would be possed to every visitor to that village so that no man would woo her even by the slightest chance! This very innocent old Arganne died at the age of sixty-five, a virgin!