"You could also argue talks that the army is, you know, making political capital or trying to make political capital out of the popular anger and discontent that s existed in the country since 2015 over insecurity"- Ronald Kato
"In every country where I’ve ever been there are little kids saying things like you are not the boss of me , and that is inspiring in itself" - Feminist icon Gloria Steinem reflects on her life and career after winning Spain s prestigious Asturias award.
A few decades ago, some Senegalese men openly identified themselves as not male or female, but as an alternative gender - the “Góor-jigéen” or “men-women”. Senegalese society accepted them, and they moved about freely in the streets of Dakar and other towns, dressed as women.
Today, in those very same streets, men seen as behaving effeminately in any way are often harassed or attacked. Nowadays ‘Góor-jigéen’ has become a pejorative term targeting gay men.
Do any Senegalese still remember the time when this didn’t happen? Why did things change?
In this episode, we investigate the colonial roots of homophobia in Senegal. To do this, we travel back in time to when Dakar was known as the “gay capital” of West Africa.