The Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women went live on the 16th of January 2009. Today, the blog has published over 1000 stories, received over 10,239 comments, and been viewed over 2,195,401 times. The popularity of the platform speaks to the need that my co-founder Malaka Grant and I identified - a safe online space where African women could dialogue with each other about sex and sexualities.
The popularity of the platform speaks to the need that my co-founder Malaka Grant and I identified - a safe online space where African women could dialogue with each other about sex and sexualities.
The seed for ‘Adventures’ had been planted only a few weeks previously when I had been on holiday with a group of women friends and found myself having the most open, frank and non-judgmental conversations about desire, fantasies and sexual experiences. It felt like an Aha moment. At the ‘ripe old age of 31’, it seemed to me that this was the very first time where I had spoken openly and honestly with other adult women about topics that were very often portrayed as taboo, especially in the conservative Ghanaian society I had grown up in.
When I started writing for Adventures, I used the blog primarily as a public diary to document my own sex life. An act that I still think is politically important in contexts where ‘good girls’ are not supposed to talk about sex especially outside the framework of a heterosexual marriage. However, over the years its become more and more clear to me that the strength of Adventures lies in the collective – the numerous guest contributors who submit their own stories - over 360 at the last count. These multiple narratives from all across the continent and Diaspora speak to the diversities and complexities of sexualities across the African continent. The conversations on Adventures defy the limited ways in which the Western world portrays African women’s bodies and sexualities – as vectors of disease, or subjects that need to have their reproductive functions controlled.
The conversations on Adventures defy the limited ways in which the Western world portrays African women’s bodies and sexualities – as vectors of disease, or subjects that need to have their reproductive functions controlled.
Instead participants in conversation on Adventures tap into the possibilities of online spaces to be open and bold. People shielded by pseudonyms speak about their most secret desires, some of which they do not even want their closest friends or partner(s) to know about. We have had contributors who write under multiple pen names because they do not want a friend or partner to trace a blog post. And that's the beauty for me of online spaces. For the possibility to be ourselves - even multiple selves if we so wish. Adwoa one day, and Ekua the next. Or Ekua one day and Kofi the next. And it is all A OK.
The partnership between my co-founder and I has also been critical to the continued success of Adventures. The blog has been a project of passion for us – we have made the deliberate choice for example not to run Google ads on the site, and so we take turns to pay for the domain name and hosting. We created a separate email address to cater to the number of people who were sending us posts for publication. We read,edit and provide feedback to the people who send in submissions for the blog. We speak up in a variety of multimedia platforms. We have been featured in a range of media from local Ghanaian TV and radio shows to global mainstream media platforms like the BBC, Radio Netherlands and National Public Radio.
Our goals for Adventures today remain consistent with our original vision. We believe that in conservative societies creating space for women to talk about sex is a radical act, one that plants a seed for a simple yet powerful fact – that women’s pleasure is political and a fundamental right.
Our goals for Adventures today remain consistent with our original vision. We believe that in conservative societies creating space for women to talk about sex is a radical act, one that plants a seed for a simple yet powerful fact – that women’s pleasure is political and a fundamental right.
Speaking about sexualities complements my life and work as a feminist activist and writer which has enabled me to take the discussions from the online blog to physical spaces starting in Ghana, my own country, as well as Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa and the UK, where I have participated in various festivals, conferences and events. The offline conversations have been super exciting and I have felt thrilled to contribute to creating a culture where women are speaking up openly about desire and pleasure.
A few years ago I started to interview African women from across the continent and Diaspora for my nonfiction book about the sex lives of African women. The blog’s pan-African and diasporic following has enabled me to connect with African women in deep and intimate ways. I have used this as an opportunity have in depth conversations and interviews with diverse women from various parts of the African continent and its Diaspora. In order to have an even broader understanding of the experiences of African women around sex and sexualities I will be conducting a global survey on the sex lives of African Women. The results of this survey and the learnings I have gained from facilitating conversations on sex and sexuality for close to a decade will be documented as a resource for the African feminist movement. My belief is that this will be a useful source for the numerous activists working for the sexual rights of African Women all over the continent in support of the political agenda that is foundational to ‘Adventures from the Bedrooms of African women’ - and to contribute to the freedom of African women such that we can thrive in our sexual choices, desires, and all other areas of our lives.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Tactical Tech's editorial stance.
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah is a feminist activist, writer and blogger. She is the co-founder of the Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women, award-winning blog that focuses on African women, sex and sexualities. She works with the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) as Director of Communications and Media.
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