Introduction: It was a bright Saturday. I had no reason to go to work, and interestingly, I found myself in my pal’s house, David. While I was busy staring at the football match on the television, David gave an undivided attention to what he was watching on his phone. He was hungry yet, he tarried there. Gently stretching his hand, he targeted a pillow nearby to put on his laps to control the direction of the erected dick he didn’t want me to see. “What is happening to this young lad,” I kept brooding as series of contemplating thoughts rushed down my memory. David, who was soaked in the videos he was watching, opened his mouth, pulling out his tongue slowly, and striking it romantically against the upper jaw. I summoned courage to ask him what was going on. He said, “Have you not heard about the latest trending hot challenge on social media?” “Omo, this silhouette challenge is the hottest ever,” he added. “Come and take a cursory look at the way this gorgeous babe is romantically winding her bare body by a doorpost in a red background,” he further stated. Putting my head down in sadness, I uttered silently to myself – “our generation is in severe trouble as sexual perversion is intensively displacing sexual purity.” The Silhouette challenge According to figures released by Pornhub, more than 42 billion people visited their site in 2019. This means that an average of 115miliions individuals consciously watched porn, nudity, or similar content on pornhub in 2019. [1] When it seems Bussit challenge will take the limelight on social media throughout the first quarter of the year, or at least, the first two months, Silhouette challenge has now enveloped the internet. This challenge involves young ladies, and in rare cases, young boys, seductively posing in a doorway before changing sexually to an entirely black silhouette in a red background. Each silhouette challenge video is accompanied by a romantic song that was recorded in 1958 but released in 1959, titled “Put your head on my shoulder by Pail Anka.” Shortly, the tune in the video transits and ends with the song – ‘Streets’ by Doja Cat. Since most movies now feature sexual organs, nudity, or sexual intercourse, it was easy for silhouette challenge to gain ground and watched by a vast number of people. I was even surprised by the rate at which my colleagues posted silhouette challenge videos on their status on WhatsApp. The desire to feed the eyes with erotic content is now a new normal that is eating up the moral standard of our land. It is sad that the world is gradually changing to make morally erroneous acts to be universally normal. Indeed, our generation is in trouble. Learning from Wikipedia’s explanation of nudity, it states, “Nudity is a state of being in which a human is not wearing clothing or precisely, not covering the genitals.” I wonder how a 20-year old David derives pleasure in watching ladies who are displaying all or part of their naked body in a red background under the umbrella of a challenge in which the desire has long-lived in them, they just waited for the time to unleash the sexy twisting of their ‘figure 8’ to the public. Ignorantly, someone somewhere is losing his consciousness and entangled till he becomes a porn addict. We need to save our generation from the trouble of the magnifying increase in sexual perversion that seems to have come to stay. Just as my father would say, “three decades ago, if you dare mention ‘porn, nudity,’ or other similar words in any social setting, people will see you like a spoilt child or an entity that was disowned by his/her parent, and lacked home training. Unfortunately, even children of leaders of faith-based organizations are now found not only watching sexual content on social media but also, engaging in it. Today, with the global accessibility of the internet and the ‘pornification’ of social media, nudity is no longer taboo. In fact, you will be seen as abnormal or outdated if you are not interested in sexually arousing content like Silhouette challenge. It is pathetic that our generation is not realising the trouble this has pushed humanity into, and if care is not taken, the future generation will suffer more. Reason for the trouble The easy access to nudity on social media today is contributing to its rapid spread across the globe, hence, the unnoticed decadence in the sexual purity of this present generation as the adolescents are energetic users of the internet. [2] No wonder, according to statistics by pornhub, in every minute, 14,799 profiles were viewed. At the same time, in every 60 seconds, 387 videos are being appraised, as well as 29 new comments are typed containing all but not restricted to love, sex, nudity, and so on. In a statement made by Dr. Laurie Betito of the Sexual Wellness Center, he discoursed that, “People are looking for more realistic depictions of sex which is the reason they take the slightest opportunity to actualise it.” Now, by sitting down in a corner of a building, with one or two clicks, a person can be absorbed in an endless world of the most dangerous pornographic images/videos in every possible genre. How do we get our generation out of the trouble we put ourselves? One critical step in preventing the cankerworm of nudity in our generation is by addressing it from the grassroots. First, kids should be discouraged from watching TV, or using phones secretly. From childhood, parents must make conscious actions in ensuring that their children do not watch movies that promote sexual impurity. Every parent should take up the responsibility of preventing their kids from getting entangled with contents that can pollute the mindset. If this can be attained, then to a large extent, the possibility of witnessing the appearance of silhouette challenge and its equivalence will be minimal. Also, sex education is very vital

  Anita didn’t find it funny some years back. She didn’t just lose her phone to thieves, she lost some pictures and videos that would crucify her if it was ever released. The day after the party when she last saw her phone, her elder sister, Precious, was called. The criminal asked her if both of them were together. And she replied positively. The blackmailer on the other line told her that he had Anita’s phone and had full assess to it. Well, Anita wasn’t surprised; her L-shaped-phone-unlocking pattern was easy to guess. To prove what they were saying, they sent some of Anita’s nude pictures to Precious’ WhatsApp number. They were both shocked, though for different reasons. Anita and Precious were asked to “drop” #100,000 to a certain account number or have Anita’s full nude folders “dropped” on Twitter and Facebook. I recall how she used Precious’ account to make a plea to all her contacts that her social media accounts had been hacked. But it was too late. Since they couldn’t raise the money before the 5-day deadline, some milder photos of her nude had dropped on WhatsApp as a threat birth.   When I heard of the silhouette challenge, I immediately thought of Anita. I thought of Anita’s mistake of allowing her phone’s camera to behold her birthday suit in the first place. But the silhouette challenge is a less private version of Anita’s case.   The silhouette challenge has been viral for a while now. It is a challenge whereby women assume nudity or wear nearly bared or very tight-fitting clothes. And using a Tiktok or Snapchat red filter, they create a silhouette of themselves most times dancing or posing in a sexually provocative manner. This is done by ensuring that the lighting in the room where their phone camera stands is dimmer than the light outside. So most often than not, the ladies who wish to participate in the challenge stand by the door where a relatively bright light cast a shadow of them showing fewer details of their bodies and more of their side outlines. The red filter on Tiktok or Snapchat does the rest [1]. At least, their nude details are hidden – or so they thought.   However, the cliché “nothing hides under the sun for long” was fulfilled rather too soon. The supposedly hidden details of some of those silhouettes were exposed. Numerous videos on YouTube described how those red filters could be removed from the silhouettes. The main aim was to savage the original pictures and behold the private details of the dark-figure-behind-a-red-background lady. This was a terrible thing especially for those who were either almost or completely unclad. Most ladies were unfortunate to have their naked bodies circulate the Internet even when many of them might not have that intension [2]. Based on some comments from Twitter, this unsolicited exposure has broken relationships: relationships between mother and daughter, relationships between the exposed woman and her love partner and relationships between the victim of such act and their workplace or immediate society at large. This has created a social brouhaha. While many gain viewership by uploading the edited and naked photos of unlucky silhouette participants, the self-esteem of many are crushed like camphor pebbles underneath a boulder [1][2]. A somewhat good intention, sometimes, is twisted into something terrible. Although the silhouette challenge was created to make women regain self-esteem and love their own body more, the table had been inverted [1][2].   The consequences of participating and worse, having your image “unfiltered” are as obvious as “I eat with my mouth.” The effect of having your nude pictures spread over the Internet can range from social stigma or segregation to a hindrance in keeping or finding a job [3]. It can even be an escalator of rape cases. Sometimes, it breaks trust and cracks relationships or even spur shame in the families of the victim of such exposure.   The silhouettes challenge should be a clear warning to all, most especially to the ladies. That which is designed to be done behind closed doors should never be seen by the cameras of your phone, worse still, sent over the Internet. There are multiple ways to have fun. And it is only wise to know that no form of nudity challenge should occupy a space in your list. Don’t hang your integrity below a dangling piece of thin thread. It is most certainly sure to fall.   REFERENCES [1] Lauren Strapagiel (2021) ‘Women Are Warning Creators About The TikTok Silhouette Challenge’ Buzzfeednews (February 1, 2021). Retrieved at: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/laurenstrapagiel/tiktok-silhouette-challenge-editing (Accessed: February 3, 2021).   [2] Alma Sacasa (2021) ‘How TikTok’s Silhouette Challenge Is Becoming Dangerous for Women’ peopleenespanol (February 2, 2021). Retrieved at: https://peopleenespanol.com/chica/tiktok-silhouette-challenge-dangerous/ (Accessed: February 4, 2021).   [3] Quinn Myers (2020) ‘Here’s What Your Hr Department Knows About Your Online Nudes’ Melmagazine (January 2020). Retrieved at: Here’s What Your HR Department Knows About Your Online Nudes (Accessed: February 3, 2021). Ebube Ezeadum, a lover of creative writing wrote in via ezeadumebube@gmail.com