Homosexuality in pre-colonial Kenya

Today's post is quite an interesting one. It brought upon due to the recent anti-homosexual debate going on in neighbouring Uganda. Well not exactly because I really couldn't care what laws they enact across the border but the enraging debate online did reach my attention due to Joliea who I follow on twitter.

Now what some, well actually most, people are saying online is that homosexuality is a completely un-African concept being imported from abroad to corrupt our "traditional" African values. However on one particular comment caught my attention in all the clutter of hate and intolerance on a pro-homosexuality article on a Ugandan blog. It went somehow like this, from memory: It shocks me how intolerant Ugandan's are of people of different diverse backgrounds. This argument that homosexuality is a foreign import trying to corrupt our African's values is an extremely ludicrous and unfound accusation. It shows just how brainwashed we African's really are. That some are calling homosexuality a form of neocolonialism is stupid. Africa has always had homosexuals in it history. The fact is that this homophobia is actually part of our neocolonialism that stems from the imported religions that the colonisers brought with them. Of course it was more eloquently put than this (it caught my attention after all) but I hope you get the gist of what was being said.

So that particularly comment got me thinking, could that be true? Could homosexuality have existed before colonialism? Simply forgotten, and later condemned, because of colonialism? After all the writer seemed extremely knowledgeable and intelligent. So first I took to twitter and asked, quite incredulously I might add, if it could be really true that we had homosexuals in Africa before colonialism. Joliea replied that we did and I asked for examples she said the Kikuyu and the Baganda.

I won't lie. I was amused at first and wanted to make a big joke about it on FB but thought better of it because it might be taken for tribalism. So I let it go and pushed it to the back of my head. But when I met my mum I asked her if she knew of homosexuality in the Kikuyu and she said," Yeah, but its not what you think. Barren women could marry a wife so she could have kids that would grow up as hers"

After this I couldn't really ignore it anymore so I did some research and googled. There was a lot of stuff but nothing very particular and until I stumbled upon a blog post by the Candid Tinman here that linked to this document by Stephen O. Murray called Homosexuality in "Traditional" Sub-Saharan Africa and Contemporary South Africa. In which he looked for any mentions of homosexuality and hermaphrodites in pre-colonial Africa. You can download and read the whole thing here but for this post I'll concentrate on Kenya.

Things chics wear that I really hate...

Hey everyone! I know its been a while since I did a new post and I'm sorry, I've been so busy as any of you who follow me on twitter might have noticed. I've been going up and down the country trying to organise matters school. I could definitely write a blog post about that and I probably will one day.

But today I want to cover something I've covered before;fashion. So I have in more of my looking at people on the streets come up with another list of thing chics wear that they're probably greatly thankful for that I've come to hate! So now without further words or ado here it is...

First, doll shoes. My lord, I really really reaaallllyyyyy hate these shoes! I mean whoa! These shoes just make chics feet look so unremarkable, boring, bland, dull, uninteresting, monochrome, uninspiring, flat, vapid and extremely commonplace! I mean after all you do to look stunning before you leave the house then you throw on a pair of these and totally kill the whole look! Good God please stop. I know many of you have male and, the unlucky ones among you, female colleagues, friends and boyfriends who will never notice what type of shoes you're wearing but know this the first time I meet you I'll notice your shoes and I hope they're more like me out there. I know why you put them on, I asked a friend of mine why she wore them and she said that it's because they're caomfortable. Well I say screw that and wear sandles or slippers!! They're several beautiful pairs out there...think about it...

Next, sharp pointed shoes, they're ugly period. I don't think I need to explain myself. But I realise that it might just be my own baised but those things look wrong. It looks as if you squeezed your toes right up to the tip. Also some time the in-between your toes show which most times have not been pakwa'd vaseline so its white as snow, yuck! Some time your little toe looks as if it been dislocated so it fit in your shoe. Also as a dude those things look like lethal weapons! If a chic kicked you in balls with those she'll definately be leaving with them hanging at the tip of her shoes. So ladies spare us the torment.

The mohawk. This style was once only found among hardcore rock heads but as soon as Rihanna started rocking it every girl in town decided its the in thing and styled their hair the same way. I hate it! Don't wear it around me because it shows your complete lack of imagination and style. Don't follow the fool masses try be unique, rock your chosen hairstyle with confidence and it will be complimented. Just so we're clear any variation of this hairstyle is whack!!