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Sexuality , African Religio-Cultural Traditions and Modernity : Expanding the Lens

In this exploratory essay, Ifi Amadiume, takes a critical look at the normative (“prescribed sexual practices”) as well as counter normative alternatives (“subversive alternatives”) to sexuality both in Africa and in other cultures as they relate to gender concepts and practices that address the problem of inequality and state patriarchy. One of the issues the essay tackles is the politics of control or ownership of access to women’s bodies – with particular focus on the power of the midwife, the husband and father over female sexuality. “At all times and in all cultures there has been a lot of meddling with and fighting over women’s sexual and reproductive organs”, the author notes. The essay calls for an open discussion of these issues to encourage possibilities for resistance and change that is individual and systemic. “What we need here is more comparative work to expand our sex knowledge about positive messages from cultures, religions, literature and science. We need to work with a broad perspective that subjects the rigidity of the normative to a critical evaluation that presents a more progressive alternative in the face of the challenges of social change”, the author asserts.