‘Sankofa’- African Sexualities and Traditions from a Feminist Lens

This is radical on a continent where there is little to no comprehensive sex education, especially the kind that centres the autonomy and pleasure of African girls and women.  Some of this work has been done through the award winning blog ‘Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women’, and the award winning podcast of the same name. Over the past six years, this radical engagement that began in virtual spaces, has taken place in varied physical locations and countries through a variety of face to face community engagements, and an annual festival which initially began in Ghana, evolved to even greater heights in Kenya, and is subsequently travelling to Benin. This movement through different countries and communities is intentional. This ongoing inclusive convening of sex positive Africans is an intentional movement building process which seeks to build community among groups of feminists working to advance sexual rights, and those who often are the most marginalised in our societies including queer women, trans women, sex workers, and people living with disabilities. 

In the next iteration of this journey, and as part of our ongoing process and commitment to centring the most marginalised communities, the next convening of sex positive Africans will be done in collaboration with Beninoise activists including a Trans Sex Worker led collective in Benin called Identi-T. They will be supported by a diverse working group of African feminists who have been working on sexual rights for over a decade. Together,  we are seeking to explore the connections between Sexualities and African traditions. Pre colonial concepts of gender and sexualities were way more expansive than is practiced today in a neo-colonial world. Traditional African religions for instance had more fluid understandings of gender with religious leaders for instance taking on different genders in trance, and or for ceremonial purposes. Similarly, many pre-colonial rites and rituals around puberty and marriage for instance, created spaces for conversations on sex and sexualities that don’t exist today. Extravaganza! 2026 aims to ‘Sankofa’ - go back and reclaim aspects of those practices that were healthy, and infuse/recreate new traditions from an African feminist lens.  We will approach this work in an iterative and exploratory manner through podcasts, community engagements and an in person festival. 

In a world where the sexual and reproductive rights of women and gender non conforming (GNC) people are being rolled back aggressively, we think it is critical, now even more than ever, to come together as women and GNC people to co-create and experience our sexual utopias, while thinking together of how we can experience freedom and liberation in the here and now, even while we build futures where everyone everywhere can be free. To do this, we must centre social justice, and work to co-create worlds where everyone has their bodily autonomy, sexual and reproductive healths respected and centred.