By Neo Mathibe
Clinical sexologist and sex coach, Liliy ‘Maneo Makoetlane could be one of a few people in Lesotho to have opened a sex shop.
Known as ‘Monaten’, the sex shop sells sex toys and sexual enhancers, and also offers sex talks or counselling to people with sexual problems, for the promotion of a healthy sexual life.
Monaten was established in August this year with the purpose of teaching people about sexology, what sex is, how it is interpreted, how people feel and think about it and people’s sexual rights. It addresses people’s individual concerns such as erectile dysfunction, early ejaculation in men, and low sexual desire in women too.
It also helps post-partum woman to start easing into sex because sex is an embodiment; if one is not mentally and physically healthy, they cannot engage in sex fully and enjoy it. That’s where Makoetlane comes in: she fills in the gaps, mind, emotions, body, energy and spirituality.
Thirty-seven-year old Makoetlane resides in Naleli just outside Maseru, having grown up in nearby Khubetsoana. Elaborating on the details of that she does, she told theReporter that she talks to people about sex, and that she works with individuals, couples, the LGBTI community. She also holds workshops where she educates kids in the appropriate age about sex.
“I am an advocate. I practiced as a magistrate for eight years and in those eight years that I listened to sexual offense cases, I was also privy to human trafficking victims. With our justice system mainly focusing on the rehabilitation of perpetrators, especially once they have been found guilty, the victims are just sent home and no one cares what happens to them later on in life.
“That is how my interest grew, in the area of sex, because I was concerned with what happened to someone who was sexually abused. Whether they would ever able to lead a normal life in the latter stages of their life when it comes to sex.
“Especially if the person in question is a child and they are planning on getting married in the future. What can we do for them to heal and end up having a healthy sex life? This also happens in marriages; after years in the marriage, the hype dies out and there is no more room to impress the other party.”
Makoetlane emphasised the importance for a woman to understand herself, like the anatomy of who she truly is, and how her body is built because “for example, the clitoris in a woman is there and made purely for pleasure. But without the right tools, women and men mistreat the clitoris and in the end women start hating the idea or thought of sex altogether.”
