Sexual Taboo in African Culture
The word taboo can be retraced from the ancient Polynesian word, ‘tapu’ which means ‘marked off’, and the Hawaiian ‘kapu’ which means ‘off-limits’. Taboos form part of or all of a society’s culture and they are mainly engraved deeply in their rules. According to Holden taboos are not a feature of ‘primitive’ societies’ as it was assumed sometime ago by some anthropologists but is a characteristic of any society (9). As in many other societies, in Africa taboos are common in all its communities. According to Durkheim taboos are universal (70). Sexual taboo in African culture can be seen in the light of ritual avoidance or prohibition of sex related activities and behavior that mainly aims at prevention of punishment by gods and ancestors. According to Stainer taboos involves ritual avoidance which closely connects with ritual prohibition (119). He also says that in many cultures those who would contradict the rules of the taboo are normally faced with undesirable outcomes (123). According Magesa taboos can be classified into four categories these are taboos about; people, thing, acts, and situations (75). Sexual taboo in African culture can therefore be defined as the deliberate avoidance of prohibited sex and sexually prohibited people, acts, things and situations in order to avoid ritual punishment. This paper seeks to discuss sexual taboos in African culture in the light of the above mentioned categories.
People related sexual taboos
In Africa, morality is highly valued and to a great extent connected with sex and sexual purity. Matters of sex are rarely or not discussed in the open. As a result most of the taboos still hold to date. Sexual wrongs are therefore severely punished in order to deter those who break the taboos and future sex offenders. Sexual taboo are therefore said to be the basis of high mortality rate in Africa even today. There are many people related sexual taboos in Africa. These included; marrying or having sex with a relative, same-sex marriage, having sex with parents, having sex with an animal, having sex with underage children, young men having sex with elderly women, having sex with other people’s wives, sex before marriage. The factors are discussed below;
It is taboo to marry one’s relatives in Africa. Africans are not allowed to marry people of the same clan, sub-clan or family. One should not marry a sister, a sister-in-law, a cousin, a far relative or people from the same ridge. Having sex with one’s parents is taboo and can lead to capital punishment. Parents include all the people of the same or near-age group of one’s parents. Bestiality is also taboo in Africa. One should never have sexual contact with animals. Such acts are also punishable by the community, gods and the ancestors. Constitutions of most African countries also prohibit bestiality. Young men are also not supposed to have any act of sex or worse still sexual intercourse with elderly women. African culture is built on respect for the aged and such acts are taboo. When such acts happen both parties involved are punished in accordance with the African customary laws. This would also spell doom to the community.
Adultery and prostitution is also taboo in African societies. Africans believe in sexual purity and respect. Men are allowed to marry many wives to curb the problem of adultery and prostitution. Women are supposed to be loyal to their husbands and should only bare children with their legal husbands. Women that are found breaking fidelity laws are punished by being forced to return all or part of the dowry that was paid for them during marriage, are divorced or were not supposed to marry any other man. Such acts are punishable by their customary laws.
Sex before marriage is another taboo in African societies. Virginity is highly valued and young boys and girls are supposed to maintain sexual purity. African societies have traditionally devised ways of determining whether or not a girl is a virgin or not. In case a girl was found not to be a virgin during her wedding day then some dowry was to be paid back to the husband’s family, the husband was advised to marry another wife or the marriage was cancelled. Interaction between boys and girls is greatly reduced and monitored. There are clear-cut lines on division of labor to minimize such interaction.
There is also prohibition on same-sex marriages and this has even been engrained in most African countries constitution. Homosexuality is illegal in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana and most other sub-Saharan countries. Some countries are still debating constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriages. Even in South Africa, gays and lesbians often are attacked because of their sexual orientation.
All these acts were considered abomination and people who commit it are severely punished by the society, ancestors and gods. Personal punishment includes being chased away from the society and declared an outcast, isolation, having abnormal children, having incurable diseases and conditions, poverty and death. Such people would also lead to the whole society being punished for example by having dry spell, lightening striking people dead, floods, incurable diseases outbreaks and unexplained deaths. However, those who broke the taboo would be cleansed by animal sacrifices offered to the gods. They would also be accepted back by to the society after being punished, or being forced to pay a certain amount of money, slaughter animals for the elders and denounce the act in public.
Acts related sexual taboo
In Africa there are some sexual acts that are taboo. These includes but not limited to; young men and women marrying without informing the parents or having a proper ceremony and dowry payment, hugging, incest, having sex before the burial of an elder, touching of sexual organs in public, touching other peoples sexual organs. These are discussed below.
It is taboo for young people to marry without informing their parents and without having full dowry payments. Dowry is considered part of the token given to the parent of the girl for their role in bringing up their daughter. It is therefore the role of the girl to inform the elders of her intention to marry for them to make proper arrangements for the dowry payments. This is still considered a show of respect and value to the parents. Young men should also inform the elders concerning their intention to marry and the character of their intended wife. This allows for proper investigations on the morality of the girl, skills and responsibilities. These factors enable the elders to estimate the amount of dowry to be paid for the girl and it also gives them negotiation power. Marrying without informing the parents is equated to stealing and is considered abomination. The outcome of such acts is punishable and the couple may have diseases struck children, they may not be allowed to take dowry of their children and the relationship between such in-laws becomes strained.
It is taboo to touch other people’s private parts. It is considered indecent and immoral for one to deliberately touch others private parts or worse still kiss them. Hugging people of opposite sex is also considered an abominable sexual act. This act carries some sexual connotation and is abominable. It may also be interpreted as being irrespectively of sexual purity that African culture fights to hold. Having sex in public or publicly accessible areas is also a taboo related to this act. Any touch messages that communicate sexual bond or desires should be done in private. This is the reason why up-to-date pornography has not been accepted in most African countries. Such acts are punishable and in some cultures like the Luhyas of Kenya it may lead to bareness.
Incest is another sexual taboo in African culture. The act involves related people by blood or marriage having sexual intercourse. This is considered provocative to the parents, gods and the ancestors. There should be mutual respect between relatives and sexual attraction between them is abominable. Those who involve themselves in such act are believed to be punished by having disabled or abnormal children. Contemporary Africans still believes this was the reason why some sex related conditions like albinism were rare in Africa.
Things related sexual taboos
It is taboo in most African societies to burry human placenta in certain areas or to denounce children whose placentas are buried in certain areas. African culture does not allow women to inherit land. It is also taboo for people of certain gender to eat some types of food. Sitting on cooking stones is also considered taboo in African culture. The factors are discussed below;
In African culture the place where a child’s placenta is buried is considered to be its original homeland. Such a taboo then bids the child to the culture and customs of that community. As the child grows to maturity the society is charged with the responsibility to orient, teach and make a morally upright person. Africans should therefore abide with the culture of their homeland or areas where their placentas were buried. Contradicting the culture of such places would then result in one being punished by the society, gods and the ancestors. This taboo is said to be biding since it involves sex, blood and origin. It is therefore believed to be punishable by death.
It is taboo for African women to inherit land. African culture allows men only to inherit land from their parents. Land belonged to the ancestor and they gave it and the right to use it to men. All women are supposed to be married and use the land and property that their husbands inherit from their parents. Women are also not supposed to take part in deliberations of matters that involves land. In a nutshell women have no say on matters of land and land inheritance. Women who contest for land inheritance are therefore believed to face the wrath of the ancestors.
Sexual taboos in African culture also involve prohibition of certain on some gender. Some foods are meant for men only while others are for women. There are also certain parts of animal carcasses that women are not supposed to eat. For example, the Agikuyu of Kenya believes that women should not consume meat from around the chest and the testicles of a slaughtered animal. Drinking of beer is also meant to be for married men. Young men who are not married are neither supposed to take bear nor participate in bear drinking ceremonies. When slaughtering animals for meat clear separation of the carcass organs and parts is done by well informed persons in line with sexuality of consumers. Gong against such taboos is punished by elders.
Sexual taboo related to situations
These taboo includes; referring to sex and genital directly, looking at one’s sister or parents as they bathe, sharing a toilet with a daughter -in-law. The following is a discussion of these factors;
Africans believes in the use of euphemism when referring to sex and sex related matters. It is obscene to refer to sex activity and genitals in plain words. There are specific words that these societies use whenever they refer to sex. These words are mild and they keep children out of the topic and content of discussion. Sex is regarded as a secret act and it should therefore not be discussed directly. It is taboo to refer to the genital of both human beings and animals’ directly. This should not be done either in words or even by pointing at them. This is regarded as lack of respect to sex, something that is perceived as ritual. Those who contradict this taboo are also punished by a fine, a curse or even unexplained death when ancestors strike.
Looking at one’s sister or parents as they bathe is also a sexual taboo in Africa. Men are not supposed to look at women who are related to them as they bathe. In such situations men should avoid such sights and turn away from them if it happens accidentally. This was meant at curbing incidences of incest and rape. It is also an abomination to look at one’s parent when they are naked. This was seen as a shameful act and degrading to the parents. Children were therefore not supposed to go close to places where mature men and women went to empty their bowels. It is also virtuous to cover or dress a mature person if one found him naked. Offenders of this taboo are punishable by the ancestors and the society. Some communities like the Agikuyu and Ameru of Kenya believes that one would become blind.
It is also a sexual taboo for one to share a toilet or latrine with a daughter-in-law. Parents always avoid situations where they share toilets with their sons’ wives. Mixing of feces with daugters in-laws is an abomination. Proper toilets arrangements are therefore necessary if the parents visit their married sons. Those who contravene such taboos are therefore punished by the ancestors either by disasters, famine and even death. The punishment also affects the society in large for its failure to uphold their culture.
It is also a sexual taboo in African culture for a daughter-in-law to look directly into the eyes of the father-in-law. In some African societies like the Luhya of Kenya, sharing of toilets with in-laws, looking at fathers or mothers in-law on the eyes is taboo. This was meant to reduce instances of the daughters-in law seeing their fathers-in-law naked, having any sexual attraction between the fathers-in –law and their daughters-in –law. This reduced incidences of such acts to the minimum. Respect was also cultivated between the in-laws. Those that contradicted the taboo were punishable by death and if there was a child born of such acts, then the child is automatically declared an outcast at birth. However, cleansing of such children would be done by the elders through offering animal sacrifices to cleanse the victim especially the children.
Role of sexual taboo in African culture
Sexual taboo played a significant and positive role in the traditional African society. This includes; Providing a set of rules that serves as a moral guidance or as sex laws in the community. If properly followed, keeping sex taboos ensures that peace and security are present in the community because sexual offences do not take place. For example they minimize cases of rape, adultery and fornication in the society.
Sexual taboos also protect the social hierarchy of African society. For example the role of men was defined clearly from that of women. Parents are also respected and their roles as counselors emphasized. This ensures that the children respect parents and honor them. Sexual taboos in African culture also help in upbringing of children and provide rules for marriage. If one keeps taboos, they also served as a means of social advancement .Sexual taboos are also a means of social control and without them there would be a lot of social problems. Keeping of taboos ensured the good harmony between the ancestors and the living world. For example almost all the taboos have a punishment that is given by ancestors on the living.
Position of Sexual taboo in African culture today
Sexual taboos also play an important role in African culture today. Their impact, however, seems to have diminished in comparison with the traditional African society. Influence of Christianity to a great extent, has taken over the role played by taboos. According to Parrinder, some practices used by Christians to show that they were openly challenging traditional African beliefs, including taboos (95).
The current African style of life where people from various tribes live together in contrast to the traditional set up whereby people of one tribe used to live in one area has also eroded African sexual taboos.
The oral way of transmitting sexual taboo from one generation to another is also another reason for their diminishing effectiveness today. As a result people living in African towns tend to know less about taboos because they are away from what would be considered their ancestral land and from elders who transmitted these sexual taboos.
Modern education and the awareness of the danger of contracting HIV/AIDS is also playing a significant role. For example, the Luos of Kenya who practiced wife inheritance have come to know that if a wife is inherited whose husband died because of AIDS, then probably she would be infected as well and transmit it to the man who would inherit her.
In conclusion, sexual taboos are universal in most African societies. Sexual taboos form part of African culture. In Africa there are sexual taboos related to people, actions, things and situations. Sexual taboos have a big impact on how Africans behaved and still behave today. All the sexual taboos in African culture have a punishment for the offenders. Such punishments are carried out by agents that include the society as a whole, elders, gods and ancestors. Punishment for sexual taboos is mainly death but others like being cursed, diseases and abnormality are part of it. In some situations offenders of sexual taboos would be pardoned and even cleansed by elders who offered sacrifices to appease the ancestors.
Sexual taboos in Africa are and still are beneficial to Africans in various ways. These includes acting as a link between the living and the ancestors, controlling morality in the society, forming basis for laws rules and regulations that guides the society, providing continuity of African sexual culture, ensuring that social structures remain in place, forming the basis for morality and governing the influence of modernity on Africans culture. Today, sexual taboos have been greatly destabilized though they can be modified to suit the present African society. This destabilization has resulted from Christianity, education, urbanization, in availability of traditional oral transmission mode and HIV/AIDS presence in the many African countries today. However, sexual taboos are still part of African culture and modern ways are incorporating some into practice. Sex is regarded as a ritual in African societies and sexual taboos are largely seen as a remedy to sexual problems. African culture is embedded in morality and sexual purity hence sexual taboo may go deep into African future.
Works Cited
Andemariam, M. “Place of taboos in Gikuyu morality”. In Magesa, L. (Ed). MIASMU Research Integration Papers to Moral Teaching and Practices of African Religion. August session. (2001)75
Durkheim, E. Incest: The nature and the origin of the taboo. New York: Lyle Stuart.(1963)70
Parrinder,G. Religion in Africa. New York: Praeger Publishers(1969)
Steiner, F. Taboo. London: Cohen &West Ltd.(1956)119
Holden, L. Encyclopedia of Taboo. Oxford ABCCLIO ltd (2009)
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