There are taboos, but no shame
To begin with, Africa is very diverse. There are Muslim countries where relations between men and women are regulated by Sharia norms. There is also Orthodox Ethiopia. And in most countries, the picture is very varied: there are Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, and adherents of traditional local cults. Incidentally, traditional beliefs among Africans permeate both Christianity and Islam.
But Muslim countries and communities will not be discussed - relations between men and women there are roughly the same as in Saudi Arabia or Iran, although, of course, with local flavor. Let us try to describe relations between men and women in the so-called Black Africa.
The main feature of sexual relations among the non-Muslim population of Black Africa is the lack of any orientation toward sexual modesty or the concept of sexual shame. Sex is viewed as a mundane fact of life, just like washing dishes or doing laundry.
A Portuguese missionary who lived in Mozambique in the middle of the last century wrote: "The concept of adultery is practically absent among them. If a husband learns that his wife had intimate relations with another man, he goes to the offender and demands compensation. Usually it is a chicken or two. Sometimes the injured party may demand a goat - this is the maximum amount of compensation. If the parties cannot agree, they go to the chief, who resolves the conflict for a small fee. I have never heard of any crimes, or even of any divorces on the grounds of marital infidelity."
Currently, many Europeans who have visited Africa believe that almost all local women are paid priestesses of love. Yes, indeed, in many countries almost any woman agrees to sex for $10-15. But this is not prostitution in the European sense of the word. An African woman (if she has not been brought up in a strictly religious or Westernized family) does not need to overcome a serious psychological barrier: "I am selling my body for money." Paid sex is treated as simply as an offer to do a simple job for good money, which is very attractive, especially in conditions of chronic poverty. Society also has no negative attitude toward this kind of earning. The woman's husband and children may know about it, and it does not even occur to her to hide it. If in Europe a man who encourages his mother, wife, or sister to earn in this way is perceived as something wild, then for most families in Tropical Africa this is an everyday matter that no one pays any attention to.
Of course, there is also professional prostitution. It is developed in almost all countries. Foreigners are especially attracted to Ethiopia, in particular its capital Addis Ababa, which as early as the beginning of the century gained a reputation as one of the main destinations of sex tourism. It is to Ethiopia that rich men from Arab countries fly during the month of Ramadan. Drinking whiskey and having fun with beautiful women at home during the fasting period is somehow indecent. And in Christian Addis Ababa - why not?
In general, in Tropical Africa, European patterns and attitudes toward sex have not taken root. There is no emphasis on sexual modesty, no concept of sexual shame. Only traditional patterns of sexual behavior are widespread: norms of obedience to elders, polygamy, belief in the effectiveness of magic, sexual taboos regarding blood relatives. Public opinion is liberal regarding premarital sexual contacts, while homosexuality and incest (especially violations of sexual taboos) are often condemned.
However, in modern Africa, especially in cities of developed countries, homosexual relations are a fairly common phenomenon. Many men do not see a contradiction in being married to a woman and from time to time having homosexual contacts. In South Africa, there is a National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Rights, which includes 74 voluntary non-profit organizations. Similar organizations exist in other countries, such as Zambia and Zimbabwe. If we look at the history of Africa, we will also see many examples of homosexuality and transsexuality. For instance, a female chief named Nzinga, who for 40 years on the territory of modern Angola prevented the Portuguese colonizers from advancing from the coast into the interior of the continent, wore men's clothing and kept a harem of young men whom she called wives and forced to dress like women. And in Dahomey in the 19th century, there were entire regiments in the army composed of women who were considered men. They could not enter into ordinary marriage and had sexual relations only among themselves.
Uncontrolled Passion as a Reason for War
Speaking about sexual relations on a continent torn by wars and interethnic conflicts, one cannot ignore the topic of mass rape. Of course, this type of crime always accompanies any situation where there is violence of some people against others. Thus, in 1917, an uprising broke out in the Mozambican province of Barue. The Portuguese and their accomplices from among the local population were slaughtered by the hundreds. The uprising, of course, was suppressed. But the Portuguese fear of the rebellious province persisted until the early 1960s - as archives testify - Portuguese special services monitored the situation in Barue and regularly wrote reports to the leadership.
And the cause of the uprising was precisely sexual violence. The Portuguese decided to build a road. The local population, both men and women, were herded to the construction site. Local guards took advantage of this. Violence on their part became widespread. Even five-year-old girls were raped. In the end, the men could not stand it.
It is horrifying to read documents of modern human rights organizations telling about tragedies that happened to women in the current series of wars that have been going on in Central Africa for several years. “I went to town to buy a wedding dress,” says one of the victims living in Congo. “On the way I was stopped by a group of soldiers. I don't even know who they were. They spoke our language. Maybe rebels, maybe Rwandans, or maybe just bandits. They took me to a camp where for three weeks I worked during the day - did laundry and cooked, and at night they all raped me. Then I probably got boring to them, and they simply threw me out of a car in the forest.” There are thousands of such stories, and this is not the worst one; often women are maimed or killed.
There is also evidence of sexual abuse in refugee camps. In Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, camp workers often demand sexual services in exchange for the humanitarian aid they distribute - food and medicine. According to a report of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, about 1,600 children from such camps testified to sexual harassment. There are testimonies from adults. A refugee from Freetown (Sierra Leone), Helen Kamara, says: “The camp chief told me that if I did not cohabit with him or give him one of my daughters - I have seven of them - we would not get any food.” Another refugee in Sierra Leone told a Western correspondent: “If you cannot offer a wife or daughter, it will be very difficult to get help.”
Peacetime amok
Unfortunately, mass rapes occur in Africa not only during wars. In the most prosperous country of the continent - South Africa - there was a veritable wave of rapes at the end of the 1990s. As Western news agencies reported, this crime was committed every 17 seconds in the country. And these are only officially registered facts! What is especially terrible is that among some Africans a myth persists that a man with AIDS will recover after sexual contact with a virgin. Tens of thousands of young women and girls became victims of sick people. According to statistics, in Zambia - also a relatively prosperous country - the incidence of AIDS among women is four times higher than among men.
And in Swaziland - a tiny country bordering only South Africa and Mozambique - the king issued a decree according to which every unmarried woman must wear umcwasho - a wide band - on her head. For virgins it should be yellow and blue, for those who have lost their virginity - red and black. The absence of the band is punishable by a fine of $150 - a huge amount of money for a poor country. The same fine must be paid by a man who dares to touch a virgin without “serious intentions.” The king decided that this would restrain young people from debauchery and stop the AIDS epidemic, from which more than 20,000 people have died in the country over the past five years. After all, what unmarried woman would show every passerby that she is no longer a girl? Skeptics criticize this decree. First, they say, who and how will check it? Second - and this is the most dangerous - girls with yellow and blue bands will become the first targets for rapists with AIDS.
Of course, it is impossible to tell in a short article about all aspects of sexual life on a huge continent where more than 10% of the world's population lives and nationalities, religions and cultural traditions are mixed. This topic is for a more extensive study.