ከፍልስፍና ዓለም™

Why We Need a Writer Like Sebehat (እንደ ወረደ!!) Sebehat is the ultimate Ethiopian literary outlaw who gave zero fucks about society's delicate feelings. He wasn’t a typical, polished author; what made him outstanding was his unapologetic, raw authenticity. He brought the brothels (ውቤ በረሀ) directly onto the page with complete honesty. We can say he was a little sexist, but which classic writer wasn't? (በእርግጥ የስብሐት ጥቂት የሚባል አይደለም፤ የሰውን ትተን አህያ ስለመብዳት የጻፈ ብቸኛ ኢትዮጵያዊ ሳይሆን አይቀርም!) Why do we need a liberal writer like him, especially in a country like Ethiopia, where our culture is heavily shaped by religion, more specifically by Christianity? (ይህ በራሱ መጥፎ ነገር ነው እያልኩ አይደለም።) We have built a strong public image of ourselves as pristine, righteous, angelic people walking on earth. When a culture demands total spiritual perfection, the first thing forced into an invisible bag is human sexuality. The brighter and more angelic the public persona, the darker and denser our shadow becomes as a collective. We refuse to speak about it openly, scientifically, or even humorously, but the truth reveals itself in contradictions: we maintain a sacred public image while, privately, statistics show some of the highest regional rates of pornography consumption. Furthermore, our news headlines and social media feeds are filled with horrifying stories of domestic degradation and sexual violence. This is the inevitable cost of severe collective repression. What is denied in the light does not disappear; it rots in the dark. This is precisely why we need a writer like Sebehat Gebre-Egziabher a revolutionary who refused to participate in our collective hypocrisy through high literary euphemisms, using terms that society tried to bury (ቂጥ, እምስ, ቁላ, መብዳት, መባዳት... ወዘተ). His goal was never vulgarity for its own sake. (ልቅነት ሳይሆን አካፋን አካፋን ብሎ እንደመጥራት ያለ ቀጥተኝነት ነው። በእርግጥ ከእሱ በኋላ የመጡ ብዙ ጸሐፊያን አሉ፤ መኃልየ መኃልየ ዘመርካቶ፣ ዘፒያሳ... የመሳሰሉ መጻሕፍት አሉ። ግን የየቤቱን እና የቡና ቤቶችን ገመና ከማውጣት ያለፈ literary value ያላቸው ናቸው ለማለት ይከብዳል::) It is fascinating to observe how comfortable many of us are using explicit curse words in English, yet we shrink in shame when those same concepts are uttered in Amharic especially womens. I have seen many of them struggle to speak the native name of their own anatomy (LOL). Where does this paralyzing shame come from? According to Sigmund Freud’s theories of psychosexual development, children experience a rich spectrum of emotional responses long before their verbal capacity fully matures. A young child may not understand the dictionary definition of an anatomical taboo or a harsh curse word, but they register the emotional climate surrounding it: the sudden tension, anger, and anxiety. So, the child absorbs the aggression and shame attached to these words before understanding their actual meaning. This creates a fixation; by the time they reach adulthood, native anatomical terms trigger an instinctive, irrational paranoia. I am not suggesting that we reduce our daily conversations to street vulgarities, but we must learn to lighten the load. We need to play with these taboos intentionally through literature, art, satire, and honest psychological dialogue (ይሄ አሁን አሁን በየሶሻል ሚዲያ የምናየውን ጋጠወጥነት አይጨምርም::). Through that, we can strip away the trauma and shame, bringing what was repressed out of the dark. confused himbo!