May 2, 2009

Kenyan Women Boycott Sex in Political Protest

We know that sex is deeply political. Old news. But Kenyan women are really upping the ante on this one. From prostitutes to the Prime Minister's wife, the nation's women are boycotting sex in protest of an ineffective and controversial coalition government. I don't know if I should be impressed with their courage and cleverness, or saddened by the violent backlash they're about to experience. 

Moreover, should we be discouraged that this is the most effective political recourse for Kenyan women? Is this one of the few ways their voices are heard? Or is this just my privileged, puritanical Western bias coming through?

As it stands, I think I'm inclined to cheer these women on.

Thoughts?

2 comments:

rantsalamode said...

I have mixed feelings about this. When women withold sex so men will change government polices or do run the country better (as has happened before in history), the subtext seems to be, "If you don't do your job, we won't do ours." Does that imply women's exclusive gender-role is to provide heterosexual sex for men? I think it kind of does. It buys into heterosexist patriarchal discourses about the role of women and the idea that men like sex more than women, so we can use it to manipulate them.

However, there is a more subversive way to read this too. The sub-text of women denying sex here could be read to mean, "You refuse to listen to us and pay attention to us unless it's for sex, so we'll deny you sex until you start to listen to us politically." Still, there are heterosexist and patriarchal assumptions embedded in this type of activism. But I guess one must acknowledge that no activism is perfect...

Nael said...

Reminiscent of Lysistrata...