Equality / Homosexuality in Senegal

One of the things I’ve noticed about Senegalese culture, is that on the one hand, they are very accepting of other religions; everyone always talks about how Muslims and Christians here love each other. On the Muslim holiday of Tabaski, they give food to the Christians and on Easter the Christians give food to the Muslims. Often times Muslims marry Christians and Christians marry Muslims. Yet at the same time, they seem to me to be very close minded about certain subjects, particularly homosexuality.

I was sitting around the bowl eating dinner with my family, and we have a conversation that went somewhat like this:

Host Mom: “Jessie, do you cook well in America? What can you cook? “

Me: “I can cook a lot of things, usually at school though I cook pretty simply though.”

Host Mom: “Jessie, if you can’t cook well, you won’t find a good husband.”

Then I explained how in America we don’t really have that mentality, how most of the time women and men both do the cooking and we don’t really believe that there are certain things only men can do and only women can do. I told them that in America, people believe in equality between men and women and we how we don’t like gender roles etc.

Then my host Dad laughs and says “Oh you silly Americans, always trying to push for equality. People need to accept that Men are dominant, it’s like that in nature, the male species are the hunters, the females raise babies and stay at home.”

Me: “Well I think that is just a traditional point of view but it doesn’t always have to be that way. There are lots of women in the USA who choose to work or don’t want to have kids, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

Host Dad: “Americans are crazy, always trying to go against nature. You need to just accept that men and women are different. That’s just how it is.”

When my family said this, I felt like I was in a position where I couldn’t argue for my opinion because they were so convinced that I was wrong. There was no agreeing to disagree. This conversation made me think about how the schools are taught here, and just the style of learning in their education systems. At school, people generally aren’t really taught to think critically or question the norm like we are in America. Especially in the religious schools, they learn the verses of the Koran, and they learn that the world is the way it is because that’s what someone else said. My friend Big, who thinks very differently than most people here told me that Senegalese people are like sheep, and they just follow the system without questioning it. From my point of view since I’ve always been taught to question things and look at both sides, this system seems closed minded and slightly brainwashing, but then again, who am I to judge when this is such a peaceful country with such peaceful wonderful people, who are content with their lives and their beliefs. If it works for them, who am I, or who is anyone to tell them that our way of thinking is better? To them, the fact that we lack a religious and spiritual education probably makes them feel like they understand more about life than we do.

One subject that I don’t know how I would bring up is the issue of homosexuality here in Senegal. Homosexuality is a taboo subject here, and people don’t really like to talk about it. To display acts of homosexuality is illegal here and you can be put in jail if you’re caught. There is an association called “Prudence” who came in to talk to our school, and there were about 5 homosexuals there but only one of them really talked to us. The others were staring at the ground and hardly even looked up.

Even though Senegal is not technically a Muslim country, 95 percent of the population is Muslim, and in Islam homosexuality is forbidden. People here (even people who are gay or lesbian) don’t see it as something natural that you’re born with, but as a disease or a result of trauma from things like an arranged marriage, circumcision, excision, violence, etc. my Senegalese professor who is open to different opinions, presented this to us as “Causes of homosexuality,” as though he pitied them for something that was caused by a painful life event. I imagine a lot of the people here have not traveled to non-religious countries where homosexuality is supported, and because this is such a homophobic society, they just grow up with the idea that it is wrong. Even my Senegalese friends who are in higher education, who are open to discuss any topic with me, say that while they are accepting of homosexuality and don’t discriminate, it still makes them uncomfortable. If you’re gay here, most of the time your family disowns you, and family is everything in Senegal.

The president here said that Senegal isn’t ready to accept homosexuals yet, but I don’t know if it’s something that is being worked towards, or if it’s just not in their culture.