Rihane, yeah. I think it is time that our peoples begin to develop and progress our cultures; not adopt others, and overdo it.

Uchevictor, it is Europeans that used to sacrifice virgins. So, help me understand what it is, exactly, that you're getting at?

No two relationships are exactly the same. For that reason, a blanket questions like that "Sex or Money: Which improves the relationship?" cannot be answered.

Fireman, in regards to the education and proper enlightenment you were proposing... I see, and I understand.

Anonymous2, why should we reduce the stigmatization when the people involved knew/know the risks, but did not take measures to avoid it? It is like telling society to stop being disapproving of car accidents. Both car accidents and single motherhood are typically accidental occurrences. Both car accidents and single motherhood are very, very problematic, difficult to handle, and costly. Both car accidents and single motherhood can be averted. So why stop at single motherhood? Why not we just tell people to also stop disapproving of car accidents the way we do?

Pope12, thank you. It is really that simple. Stopping/reducing stigmatization will just lead to the approval, and subtle promotion of single motherhood.

Kenyawest, have you missed the multiple areas where I stated that we to take care of those involved in the single motherhood institution? As for involving government, I completely disagree. I believe that government should stay out of it. Nigeria does not need to implicate any kind of social program for single motherhood. In fact, it should not. It will only encourage single motherhood, and we do not want to encourage it. Giving money to single mothers just because they are single mothers, and performing services for single mothers (at federal expense) just because they are single mothers, is nothing less than mass encouragement of an institution we highly disapprove of. Simply put, the government does not have to be involved.

Unu agbaliala.. ihe a eruola ibe akwukwo iri asoto la ishii ma unu ahafuwala isi okwu, bia ekwuo ihe ozo. Ka m bia asaanu ajuju ahu... osisa m bu la o dighi obe o bula kaa nma bu obe a ga-iga ahu ezi nwaanyi. I ga l'ulo ekpere, i ga-ihu otu ezi nwaanyi. I no na-aga ije l'uzo, i gakwa-ihu otu ezi nwaanyi ozo. Obe o bula i ga-iga, otu ezi nwaanyi ga-ino ya. Ebe nsogbu di bu l'ichofuta onye bu ezi nwanyi ma onye la-abughi ezi nwaanyi.

O gwula oke o ha m l'onu.
Erhm.. Igbo ekelee m unu.

*sigh*
Temi07 is speaking the truth.

Male species? So woman no de do am too, abi? Na only man?

Kenyawest, condoning, and approval will only further encourage the institution of single motherhood as a norm. I've stated, and I maintain, that our respective cultures do not accommodate that institution [single motherhood] as an acceptable practice/norm, but we do realize that it happens, and we do take care of the people involved. We know, and understand, that single mothers are here to stay, and we've been culturally well adjusted to those facts for a long, long while now. That still does not mean that we approve of it.

That's the truth.

Fireman, what kind of 'education' and 'proper enlightenment' are you proposing?

Oh okay. I see what you're saying now.

Stigmatization is extreme disapproval. We can still extremely disapprove of the institution of single motherhood while still looking after widows, orphans, fatherless children, etc. Our cultures have been doing that since before the Portuguese first stepped foot into West Africa. Just because we take care of widows, orphans, fatherless children, etc. does not mean that we have to approve of and accept the institution of single motherhood as a norm.

Although our cultural views of waywardness play a role in the stigmatization of single mothers, I maintain that it is the views and expectations of our cultures, in regard to marriage, children, and family (which are very stringent) that play the largest role. Those that make the stigmatization of single motherhood out to only be an issue of waywardness are thinking of it from a narrow, mainly religious perspective, and not the larger cultural perspective.

Kenyawest, that is a nice, well thought out post, but I have to disagree with the last sentence. Hanging on to faith is like trying to ignore the stigmatization, and the stigmatization will always be there. So ignoring it doesn't destroy it (make it go away).

People, our cultures still hold steadfast that one of the reasons, if not the only reason, for marriage is to have children. So regardless of the circumstance surrounding any single mother (teenage or not), the immediate response is disapproval [stigmatization] in our cultures, because the child is not of wedlock. So, until single mothers are willing to tell people the circumstance surrounding their single motherhood, I suggest that they prepare themselves to face disapproval in our cultures, because the only people who likely to not disapprove are people who know the circumstance surrounding the single mother's single motherhood.

Temi07, I agree with you 100%

I do not understand how people cannot expect stigmatization in cultures that are still heavily centered on the idea that family is a man, woman, and children. I personally have no problem with stigmatizing teenage mothers [to be] (with the exception of rape). As for single mothers... that would depend on the situation surrounding their single motherhood.

It isn't an evolution in romance, rather, it is a complete adoption of foreign ideologies. Evolution and Adoption are not the same thing.

Abu m onye Abia state... Onye Ngwa. Ihe m dere n'elu ebe ahu abughi olu mba m. Amaghi m ihe o si yiri gi olu mba ndi no na Delta. Amaghi m olu mba ndi ahu di iche iche na Delta asu, ma o bu dee.

Yeah, I was writing in my dialect. Still though, so long as someone can read Igbo well and so long as I write in correct grammar rules, understanding ought not be very problematic.

What is "in direct", and what is "the real thing?" 

You know what... agaghi m ana-akpo gi "Nwanne Di Na Mba". Kama, aga m ana-akpo gi "Nwanne Ndi La Mba" (nke a bu l'olu mba m).

Okay, so i bu nwanne di na mba. Ya emee, aga m ana-akpo gi Nwanne Di Na Mba, ebe i na-anu asusu ndi nke m, na-asukwa ya asu, na-edema ya edema.
Ekelechara m gi Nwanne Di Na Mba.

Oh okay.. so you're not ethnic Igbo... is my deduction wrong? 

This is not making sense to me. I'm sorry. What exactly is your connection to Igboland? How exactly are you Igbo?

And if you are Igbo... where from Igboland are you from?

How are you Igbo then if you are not Nigerian?