Historically, little has been openly said about female sexuality in Africa, but a new generation of women are bringing the subject out of the darkness. A new book by Ghanaian author Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, “The Sex Lives of African Women,” profiles a far-ranging array of women’s experiences across the continent, and it’s proving to be a sensation. The positive reaction to Sekyiamah’s book was “so powerful and so necessary,” said Mona Eltahawy, the Egyptian American author of “The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls” and “Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution.” The movement is “part of a sexual revolution that’s happening across our continent,” Eltahawy said. As a woman of color and feminist writer who grew up and has worked in both the Middle East and the West, Eltahawy said the book made clear that “cisgendered, heterosexual, able-bodied, privileged white women” were far from the only ones exploring themes of sex and sexual fulfillment. While women frequently share their feelings about the book and its stories in public, Sekyiamah said the men who read it usually communicate their feelings to her privately.
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES