When Sex Threatened the State

Illicit Sexuality, Nationalism, and Politics in Colonial Nigeria, 1900-1958

Bibliographic Data

ID20002844
AuthorsSaheed Aderinto (corresponding author)
Year2014
Pages288
Publication date2014-12-15
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueWhen Sex Threatened the State (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherUniversity of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.5406/illinois/9780252038884.001.0001
OpenAlexW2251819018
Open LibraryOL27558437M
ISBN9780252038884
LanguageEN
Citations received12

Breaking new ground in the understanding of sexuality's complex relationship to colonialism, this book illuminates the attempts at regulating prostitution in colonial Nigeria. As the book shows, British colonizers saw prostitution as an African form of sexual primitivity and a problem to be solved as part of imperialism's “civilizing mission.” The book details the Nigerian response to imported sexuality laws and the contradictory ways both African and British reformers advocated for prohibition or regulation of prostitution. Tracing the tensions within diverse groups of colonizers and the colonized, the book reveals how wrangling over prostitution camouflaged the negotiating of separate issues that threatened the social, political, and sexual ideologies of Africans and Europeans alike. This, the first book-length project on sexuality in early twentieth century Nigeria, combines the study of a colonial demimonde with an urban history of Lagos and a look at government policy to reappraise the history of Nigerian public life

Colonialism · Government (linguistics) · Human sexuality · Ideology · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science) · Threatened species · African history and culture studies · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Ecology · Gender Studies · History · Law · 20th century · Africa · Child prostitution · Colonies · Great britain · law and legislation · Nigeria · Political aspects · politics and government · Prostitution · Public policy · Sex · Sexual behavior · Sexually transmitted diseases · Social aspects · Social policy