‘Men don't have patience’: Sexuality, pleasure and danger in displacement settings in Northcentral Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights are fundamental human rights. Previous studies on gender and sexuality in displacement settings have often focused on sexual and gender-based violence and the reproductive health problems of women while underplaying their needs for sexual expression, pleasure and procreation. This paper examines the influence of conflict and displacement on gender relations, sexuality and natality of internally displaced women in Nigeria. It draws on data from a larger study in which focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were used to explore 52 women's gendered experiences with Boko Haram insurgency and displacement. A critical thematic analysis of data revealed that the women's relationships with their men were complex and ambiguous, characterised by both tensions and solidarity. The women saw their men as partners in their struggle against multi-level oppression, including the structural barriers that undermine their mutual sexual expressions and pleasure, as well as their desire to procreate and repopulate their decimated ancestral communities. We recommend collaborative efforts to promote and protect the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of displaced women which includes building physical structures and living conditions that promote healthy, safe and pleasurable sexual expressions, and socio-political structures that create access to the long term social security.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexuality
• gender
• internally displaced women
• Boko Haram
• sexualisation

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge the administrations of Babcock University, Nigeria, and the University of Otago, New Zealand for giving scholarships that funded this research. We also acknowledge the support of the Internally Displaced Women in Nigeria who accepted to participate in this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Hin in pidgin English can be used as a masculine or feminine pronoun, that is, he or she.