The Hit Erotica Writers Outwitting Nigeria’s Religious Censors
I read this great article by Ruth Maclean and Ismail Auwal in the New York Times this morning.
The Hit Erotica Writers Outwitting Nigeria’s Religious Censors
I feel such a huge sense of solidarity with these women in another country writing erotica and working out ways to get around the censors.
Of course, here in Australia, the censorship isn’t nearly so intense as these writers are dealing with. I take my hat off to authors like Oum Hairan, Oum Aphnan and Maman Teddy (all mentioned in the article) for both writing their smut and for coming up with unique ways to share and market their erotica.
Censorship of sexual material — whether it’s erotica, pornography or something else — is an ever-present reality for all creators in this space. In Australia, de-platforming is always a risk, as is the risk of financial and other discrimination for erotic creators and sex workers.
Our books don’t get burnt (thank heavens — or rather, thank everyone over the decades who has fought censorship), and it is possible of course to print romance and steamy romance. But there remain huge and surprising barriers, including regulatory barriers, to publishing and distributing erotic stories in print form.
(Luckily, there’s also the internet, so I won’t need to build a secret basement with a printing press in it just yet).
I also feel a huge sense of kinship with the readers mentioned in the article: Nigerian Hausa women enjoying the smut they want to read. I’m so profoundly glad that they’re making technology work for them to access writing that makes them happy and fills their sexual desires.
Once again, the situation I grew up in is very different. But nevertheless: I grew up loving romance novels despite my family’s insistence that they are the least form of literature. I would guiltily read some of the sex scenes again and again, never able to admit just how much I loved them.
I still remember the day I got my own tablet device for the first time. I was in my twenties! I put a password on it that I didn’t tell my brother so he couldn’t snoop on me. (He complained about that, by the way.) Sometime in the following year I discovered the crazy, beautiful, wondrous world of erotica — and the glory of being able to read what I wanted without shame or fear of discovery.
I’m so glad this other group of women on the other side of the world from me has the same pleasure.
I note that there’s a whole extra story here that I’m not qualified to write about how the modern world and colonialism have impacted the sexual oppression Nigerian and/or Hausa women experience, as well as other Indigenous women, Black women and Women of Colour around the world. Colonialism and racism has clearly also impacted how westerners like me view women living in these societies as well. (I don’t have anything particularly profound to say about that but I do want to acknowledge it.)
Anyway, if you’re looking for a piece of intelligent writing about some really cool women in Nigeria, check it out 💖. Here’s the link again:
The Hit Erotica Writers Outwitting Nigeria’s Religious Censors
I know it’s probably behind a paywall for many of you — I think it must be one of my free articles for the month.
Have a great day! ~Pixie
Pixie Isobella 