Boy-Wives and Female-Husbands: Studies in African Homosexualities

by Stephen O. Murray, Will Roscoe

Claims concerning the presence and status of homosexuality in historic African cultures have become central points of contention in debates among contemporary African Americans. Some of those involved in the debate have even asserted that the original languages of Africa contained no words for gay or lesbian, therefore concluding that they did not exist. As the first work of its kind on the subject, Boy-Wives and Female-Husbands answers an urgent need for accurate, well-researched, and balanced work on African sexuality. It offers perspectives from the fields of anthropology and history, along with extensive evidence from ethnographic and literary sources. The essays explore such topics as woman-woman marriages, early reports of Malagasy "berdaches," male homosexuality in contemporary West Africa, alternative gender identities among the Swahili, the regulation of sexuality in colonial Zimbabwe, and the portrayals of homosexuality in modern African literature. Bound to be an invaluable resource for discussions of traditional and contemporary African cultures, Boy-Wives and Female-Husbands is a book whose time has clearly come.

Genres: Nonfiction, Queer, History, LGBT, Africa, Gender, Race

358 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Sumayyah · Rating 2 out of 5]

While containing a wealth of information, this book was more of a clinical, anthropological study of homosexual African behavior, as told and researched by (mainly White) people. I was disappointed by the lack of first-person African narratives.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, this book sure is something.

First off, as others have pointed out, this is a collection of primarily anthropological, ethnographical, and historical writings from Western perspectives, including the colonial. There are frustratingly few instances of Africans of any culture speaking for themselves. This of course colors perspectives of the patterns discussed. Even in the interview with a young Kikuyu man, the questions seemed more guided by the (American) interviewer's framework of what male gayness entailed than by what the interviewee was saying. One wonders how the interview would have gone had the interviewer been a fellow African, even one from a different culture.

On the other hand, this approach offers a fascinating window into how Western cultures, both historically and modernly, attempt to create and maintain strict categories of sexual orientation and gender identity that do not, in any practical sense, exist (the same way we do with race).

Several authors in the book caution against applying Western frameworks of queerness to African same-sex patterns. However, we all look through the cultural lenses we were raised with, and late '80s-mid-'90s queer Western culture seep into all "modern" chapters (20-25 years is modern by most historical standards but practically archaic by queer theory and culture standards). So, for instance, one author talks about people who were (to use today's vernacular) assigned male at birth and who, as adults, live in women's spaces, pursue traditional women's work, call each other by women's names, and either wear women's clothing or wear men’s clothing in a different, "feminized" way--but insists that we must not think of them as transgendered (sic) or belonging to a "third or alternate gender" simply because none expressed interest in surgical alteration. While I'm sure transmedicalists in the audience would delight in this linking of transgender identity and medical/surgical transition, anyone else might be taken aback by the outdated view.

With all that said, this is still an interesting read, if for no other reason than to counter arguments that queerness is a "modern Western vice." Life patterns that we might in the US call LGBTQIA+ existed across Africa long before colonialism. Indeed, as one author argues, in many African cultures, the real modern Western vices are homophobia and the suppression of behaviors which violate the cis- and heteronormativity forced onto indigenous populations by colonial forces.

[Shay Olivarria · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this book. it's an anthology of sexuality and sexual practices on the African continent. i have heard the argument that Black people didn't know of homosexuality until Europeans arrived, however this book provides many stories and oral histories to contradict that.

[Meli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an impressive semi-archival work. It reads largely like an accumulation of colonial anthropological accounts and would be unsuitable for someone looking to read on gender and sexually variant expressions from African voices. I think approaching it in this way is necessary so that its biases can be used for a useful colonial historiographic analysis. Many of the texts come from colonial era "ethnologists" and "anthropologists", and reading their writing is a fascinating look at Euro-centric constructions of race, marriage, and social status. It also provides a useful view into the ways that black bodies have been caricatured and racialized by the white boy (as brutish, seductive, monstrous, sexually loose, reproductive, etc.) in colonial and postcolonial narratives that continue to be rearticulated and feed contemporary racism around the body. The compilation, however, is not entirely comprised of colonial archives and includes some interesting studies on the different forms that gender and sexual variation can take as a product of economic and cultural histories. The authors take effort to cover various regions and societies on the African continent. Overall it provides useful accounts of how western/hegemonic constructions of gender and sexuality are rattled.

[Tutankhamun18 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a very academic collection of essays about African (homo)sexuality orginally put together in the late 90s. In the introduction the author laments the lack of African writers speaking about the topics themselves/ personally, but notes that at the time, it was almost impossible to find such African academics. Also noted is the low number of female academics included in this collection. It makes for uncomfortable reading at times, as it often feels quite clinical and objectifying tone that is created through the academic framing of „the people“. Despite this, it was an interesting read as it decenters the idea of fixed ideas of gender and seperates reproduction from gender and decolonialises the ideas of marriage, love, pleasure, reproduction and power. It is interesting to see how often it is reported that homosexuality „does not exist here“, despite clear homosexual relationships occuring, because these western ideas of what it means to be gay do not resonate with how the people perceive their cultural norms.

[Hlubi]

In other words, "The white man's ongoing quest to homosexualize his African victims so he doesn't feel guilty for having molested them." Alternatively: "The white man's ongoing quest to twist African cultures and use them to normalize paedophilia".


Leave my Ancestors alone. They are exhausted. Leave them out of your white kinks and fetishes.
Give them in death what you took from them in life: dignity!!!!

[Between2books_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈 And happy #nonfictionfriday. I don’t know about everyone else but I have heard the false and dangerous narrative that ‘homosexuality is un-African’ quite a few times in my life. Such a phrase and mentality is harmful and loaded with dangerous as well as frustratingly contradictory ideas. I’ve begun to read more about the origins of this idea and harm it breeds. What is painfully ironic is that leaders and others who push this idea are they themselves upholding ‘un-African’ ideas such as a monolithic Africa or the ‘noble savage’ who acts only on primal instinct. They claim to be preventing a ‘social neo-colonialism’ whilst holding on to dear life to a colonial idea and ignoring the fact that what we now know as the Queer community are and have been part of the history of many tribes and nations. Strangely enough, when we are told that homosexuality or transgenderism are ‘threats’ to our societies we are not being told a lie. The history and narrative of the Queer community both on and off the continent has been and continues to be suppressed and erased because it challenges our current ideas of who holds power and what roles we ought to occupy in society. All liberation struggles threaten our societies as we know them. We cannot ignore that throughout the world it is still life-threateningly dangerous to exist outside of the boundaries heteronormativity and gender. There are lots of causes to support and I will put some in our story and then they’ll be added to a ‘resources’ highlight on the profile page. If anyone has any further reading on these topics I’d really appreciate or any ideas to share.

[Obinna Tony-Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am kinda annoyed it wasn’t what I expected. I was expecting first-person narrations on African culture, and rather it heavily leaned towards academic-researched writing, deep into referencing, and would have been a fit if it was marketed on ResearchGate rather than as a creative non-fiction. I thought this would explain the culture I love.

By the way, there are first-person accounts, but sparingly. It’s about 10% of the book. Throughout the book, I was bored but was able to extract key points. Though a key book for well-written research but not a best bet as creative non-fiction catered to everyone to understand African culture regardless of who you are. I really wish we could write more first-person accounts or interview actual people and tell their tales on queerness in Africa, rather than academic style language, structure and content.

I think the writing style and content did little to what it was meant to do. It was supposed to market to people who were not keen on academic writing seeing as it was actually published as hard copies, to appeal to everyone, and it did nothing. Better off being on Researchgate rather than in bookstores.

[York · Rating 4 out of 5]

Appreciate the authors include women while also saying that they don't have enough on women vs saying its a book about homosexualites and only mentioning men, or thinking that a token mention of Amadiume's book on female husbands is sufficient when it comes to the experiences of women's homosexuality.

[Nathanael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful, yet also very euro-centric

[Dingo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really engaging and accessible read, I sped through it and found it kinda thrilling in how it presented so many different insightful facts/stories on African homosexuality

[Zaynab]

mixed

[Adam King · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is so well researched. I recommend it to anyone interested in the subject of the history of queerness in Africa!