Revisiting dialectics on transgender phenomenon

[kayode Ketefe]

Revisiting dialectics on transgender phenomenon

KAYODE KETEFE

Today is the International Transgender Day for Visibility, a day set apart to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by this people worldwide.
The following conversation between a Nigerian “Conservative” and “Liberalist” underscores the perspectives on and understanding of the transgender phenomenon in this country.

Liberalist: Hurray, today is the International Transgender Day for Visibility! Let’s join hands to raise awareness on LGBTI rights.
Conservative: What is that supposed to mean? I hope you know there is anti-gay law in Nigeria? Thanks to our leaders, our country is being protected against foreign bad practices trying to make incursions into our territory.

Liberalist: Well done! You have a law by which people of different sexual orientations would be clamped into jail; those who support them and agitate for their rights will also suffer similar fate. Is that what you are excited about? Don’t you think this amount to trampling on other people’s human rights?
Conservative: What human rights? Don’t tell me you support immorality? Do you think it is appropriate for a man to be sleeping with a man and a woman with a woman? That is an abomination; it is alien to our culture!

Liberalist: Our culture! In some parts of Nigerians twins had been killed in the past under “our culture” which saw twins as evil people; it was a foreigner, Mary Slessor of blessed memory that stopped that practice of infanticide. Today, it is no longer our culture to kill twins. We had engaged in human sacrifice in the past, it was our culture! Was it not? Today, such practice is seen as evil. Let us critically engage all the components that made up the so-called our culture and see if they can stand to test of reason.

Conservative: Those that killed twins in the past did so under ignorance. But there are practices that cannot be justified; they stand out egregiously as immorality. We simply cannot justify homosexuality and allied nonsense under any guise. What is not good is not good!

Liberalist: The problem with your position is that you have already assumed a number of things and jump into conclusion on the basis of your assumptions. These people, I mean the Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders and Intersexes (LGBTI) are unanimous on one thing. They say they did not choose to be the way they are and that nature made them like that. Just consider for the moment if nature truly made them the way they are and their sexual preferences are not their own making, will punishing them not amount to punishing a dog for barking and a bird for singing?

Conservative: I don’t agree with you! God will not create anybody in an immoral way. People would choose to practice abominable things out of their own perversion and still have effrontery to blame God for it.

Liberalist: But what evidence do you have that it is not the way they are made? You are just expressing personal opinion by saying they chose to be like that.

Conservative: You may call it personal opinion, but it is an opinion based on human experience. If you look at human anatomy, you would find that God designs a man for a woman and vice versa. Even in the animal kingdom, you would not find a male dog mating with a male dog nor would you find a goat mating with a goat. It is only among us, human beings; with our capacity for mischief, you would find such sexual incongruities!

Liberalist: Now, let us get down to being factual. It is not correct to say that homosexuality does not occur among animals. It is a well-documented scientific fact at least 1500 animal species practice homosexuality! You can google that to dig up the information on the internet!

Conservative: Much of the information on the internet is put there by the Western powers to deceive us. This forms part of conspiracies to make all of us go gay! Whatever may be the case, we should not allow bad practices to spread into our land.

Liberalist: Thinking it can spread unless curtailed is an emanation from an unyielding mindset that these people deliberately decided to be like that. If you start to punish all babies born with dreadlock (Dada) and throw them into prison for instance, will it stop the birth of babies born with dreadlock? If you start to ostracize all the albinos born in the society, will that stop the birth of albino babies? Freakishness is part of nature.

Conservative: Those are different!

Liberalist: You said so! Now let us get more factual. Let me ask you a question: who is a male and who is a female?

Conservative: Why? Don’t tell me you cannot distinguish a male from a female if you see one.

Liberalist: Well, not always! Did you know that you cannot absolutely say a person is a male or female though physical appearance alone? This is determined in absolute sense through scientific tests. At times someone would have physical appearance of a particular gender, but inwardly he/she would belong to the other sex.

Conservative: Are you talking of the hermaphrodites, they are not….

Liberalist: No I am not talking of hermaphrodites. Did you know that gender tests are conducted these days by the organisers of the competitive sports to determine true gender of athletes? Even in female football, they do it to ascertain the true gender. So determining the gender goes beyond the physical assessment alone!

Conservative: how does that justify being gay?

Liberalist: So if a person claims, I may have the appearance of a female but I am really a male inside me and my sexual preference is towards females. What rights have you and your government to throw the person into prison when you cannot even determine who is really is a male or female by merely looking at them, except through scientific testing.

Conservative: Government has the right to protect the society. See, no intellectual argument can persuade me, I want to follow the ways of God!

Liberalist: But God is said to be fountain of fairness and justice.
Conservative: Na you sabi!

[Salimonu Kadiri]

Kayode Ketefe is presenting Nigerian Conservatives and Liberalists from the point of view of Euro-Americans that Nigerians were nothing before the advent of Europeans in the country and we would be nothing without the tutelage of Euro-Americans. Nigerians were something before the intrusion and destruction of our societies by the colonialists. Although English language is imposed on Nigerians as the official language, 90% of Nigerians do not speak, write and understand it properly. Even the few percentage that can communicate in English language normally proceed from their mother tongue. Thus, Yoruba being my mother tongue, I know that there are no equivalent or corresponding words for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Trans-genders and Intersexes (LGBTI) in our language.

 

In Yoruba language, just as in all ethnic languages in Nigeria, the indigenous words for, a female and a male are anatomically defined by the sexual organs between the legs of a child at birth. The indigenous words for husband and wife are associated with marriage between a grown up man and woman (a male and a female). For procreation the female is equipped with eggs and the womb while the male supplies the sperm through sexual intercourse with the female. There are anatomical names in Yoruba for all parts of human body and specific natural function of every part of the body dated back to antiquity is well known. Your Conservative Nigerian was made to question the sense in a man sleeping with a man and a woman with a woman. From there, you Kayode made the Liberalist to claim that the LGBTI say they did not choose to be the way they are and that nature made them like that. Thus, your Liberalist found it improper to punish them if LGBTI is created by nature and their sexual preference is not of their own making.

 

What you tacitly referred to as "man sleeping with a man and woman with a woman" is in reality equal to "a man having sexual intercourse with a man and a woman with a woman." How can a man have sexual intercourse with another man when the two sexual organs are penises? A penis cannot penetrate another penis and no other parts of the body can naturally be substituted with the female organ, vagina. It is also laughable and ridiculous for a woman to claim the ability to have sexual intercourse with another woman when by nature no woman has sexual organ to penetrate fellow woman's vagina. On your assumption that the LGBTI is a Nature's creation and their sexual preferences or orientations are not of their own making I wonder why any person that stands on his head to walk as walking preference or orientation is immediately admitted for psychiatric treatment. Generally, it is never considered a visual orientation but dangerous behaviour for anyone to blindfold and drive a vehicle in a public place. In his 1993 analysis of the genetics of the male homosexuality, Dean Harmer claimed to have found a particular region on the X-chromosome that seemed to correlate with being gay. He thought he found evidence that being a gay was a function of genes. The finding could not withstand the test of time because there was no specific gene for being a homosexual as there is none for thieves, rapists and other anti social behaviours in the society. LGBTI are acquired behaviours and not natural.

 

The Liberalist is made to claim, with the support of Google, that there are homosexual animals. The Google will also tell us that animals have their own animal doctors that help homosexual female animals with insemination in the forest. If Google says there are snakes with hunchback in the forest, we should just believe Google although no one has ever seen a snake with a hunchback.

 

After equating babies born with dreadlock and Albino with homosexuals who should be allowed to live the way they choose, Kayode made his liberalist to say that physical features cannot decide who is a male or a female. He, therefore, contented that a person can inwardly have another sex than the gender appearance. Consequently and according to him, scientific tests should determine who is a male and who is a female. But if the physical outlooks of babies born with dreadlock and albino decide who they are, why should who is a male and a female not be decided by the natural organs between the legs. Are the sexualorgans of the LGBTI inwardly or internally situated? There is no scientific test that can decide who is a male or female.

 

Not everything done in Europe and America is good and not everything done in Africa (Nigeria) is bad. The sexual orientation/preference that LGBTI are claiming rights to is also claimed by paedophiles and zoophiles in Europe and America. Those who want to give Nigerians LGBTI and Bestiality rights should first give them constant power supply, functional oil refineries, potable water supplies, free education, full employment and good housing accommodations. After Nigerians would have attained the same standard and economic development as Europe and America maybe Nigerians would be able to afford thinking about sexual perversion.

S.Kadiri
 

> Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2016 10:58:15 +0000
> From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> To: USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Revisiting dialectics on transgender phenomenon

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[Amatoritsero Ede]

Folks,

I think the scholarly paper i attach on same sex marriage in traditional yoruba world might add another perspective to this conversation. Enjoy!

Amatoritsero 

[Salimonu Kadiri]

It is amusing to read the introduction of Amatoritsero Ede's to his attachment. He wrote, "I think the scholarly paper on same sex marriage in traditional Yoruba world might add another perspective to this conversation." Although the title of the attached article in the Journal of Homosexuality is : Same-Sex Relationship in Yoruba Culture and Orature, the publishers, Taylor and Francis, issued a cautionary message in introducing the subject. They wrote, "The accuracy of the content (of the article) should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information." George Olusola Ajibade's Same-Sex Relationship in Yoruba Culture and Orature is more or less a fictitious invention that has been transformed (against the counsel of the publisher, Taylor and Francis) by Amatoritsero Ede to scholarly paper on same sex marriage in traditional Yoruba world without verifiable evidence.
 
Yoruba was a well developed language before our encounter with Europe. Not many people outside Yorubaland know that Yoruba language had words for week days and months before the arrival of Europeans on our shores. Thus, Monday = Ojó Ajé, Tuesday =Ojó Ìségun, Wednesday = Ojó'rú, Thursday = Ojóbò, Friday = Ojó Etì, Saturday =Ojó Àbámeta and Sunday = Ojó Àikú. The word Osù in Yoruba means Month and as such the 12 months of the year are stated as follows: January = Osù Sèrè, February = Osù Erèlé, March = Osù Erèna, April = Osù Ìgbé, May = Osù Èbìbì, June = Osù Òkúdu, July = Osù Agemo, August = Osù Ògún, September = Osù Òwewe, October = Osù Òwàrà, November = Osù Bélú, and December = Osù Òpe. Long before the grand parents of Charles Darwin were born, our Yoruba ancestors gave names to animals, insects, birds, trees and plants in Yoruba language. Anatomically, each part of human body was given a Yoruba name with specific functions by our ancestors. The Yoruba gender name for a male is Ako (pronounced AKOR) while the female is Abo. The genitalia at birth determine who is a male or female in Yoruba culture and tradition. Visually, a normal male at birth in Yorubaland must have penis and testicle (okó and epòn) while the female has vagina, labia and clitoris (Òbò, Awé-Òbò, and Ido). 

 

At the time when the words marriage, husband and wife were yet to appear in the vocabularies of Europe, the institution of marriage between a male and female had long been established in Yorubaland. The families of the would be bride and the bridegroom used to set up joint  intermediaries not only to conduct suitability enquiries but to negotiate conditions or terms of marriage. Traditionally Yoruba used to celebrate a bride's virginity when deflowered on wedding night. Boys and girls were not brought up in Yorubaland to regard their sexual organs as ferrous metals that would rust if not used regularly. There were social restrains and constraints against illicit use of sexual organs as they were strictly reserved only for procreation and not for mere pleasure. In Yoruba tradition and culture, children are insurance against old age and those who are childless at old age are taken care of by the children of brothers, sisters or the extended family. The Yoruba say, Ení bímo, omo lómásín, ení tíòbímo, omo lómásín, meaning one that has children shall be buried by children and one that is childless shall also be buried by children. The obligation of the youth to take care of the elders is further confirmed in the Yoruba saying, Bi òketé bá d'àgbà omú omo rè ni mu which means when the rabbit is old, its offspring should breastfeed him/her. The primary purpose of sexual intercourse in Yoruba belief is well articulated in this expressions for married couples : Ògèdè kîgbé odò kó yá àgàn; Ewúre kî d'àgbà kóje owó onilé gún; K'ábimo ni ìdèra ni ìbépe nto omo rè sórùn; Gbómo yíwaká, ògèdè kî nikan dúró; Gbógbó aya ti a fésilé, ki wón bímo lásìkó; Bi iná bákú, a fi êrú bo'jú, bi ògèdè bákú a f'omo rè rópò, Omo ni yio gbèyìn wa. Literally, the above means, Banana plant in the river is never baren; Full grown goat never constitutes loss to the owner; The easiness in given birth is what makes pawpaw plant to surround its neck with its fruits; Surround us with children, as banana plant never stands alone; Let all our wives at home have children in time; When fire quenches, it will be replaced by ashes; When banana plant dies, it will be replaced by its offshoots; Our children should outlive us. A man who in Yorubaland penetrates a woman's vagina with his penis is said to have, dó Òbò, literally, the penis is settled inside the vagina. Similarly, a woman that allows the penetration of her vagina with a male's penis is said to have dó okó, literally, the vagina embraces the penis. When one talks about sexual intercourse in Yorubaland, it can only happen between a man and a woman with the penis inserted into the vagina. That is why, in contrast with the western world's oral sex, the Yoruba call sexual intercourse between a man and a woman, Adùn má dé'rèké, meaning sweet without tasting it in the mouth.

 

George Olusola Ajibade tried to link Sàngó people's way of dressing to homosexuality when from antiquity till date no homosexual has been found in Sàngó worshippers in Yorubaland. Sángó men and women in Yorubaland have wives and children, indicating that they are heterosexuals. "Ifa mythology," George Olusola Ajibade wrote, "Òfurufú-kò-se-fèyìnti and Láárufín were both females who slept together and that Láárufín subsequently gave birth to Òrùnmìlà. The myth validates the reality of the idea of lesbianism in Yoruba." The absurdity of George Olusola Ajibade's mythological reality about two females having sexual intercourse leading to one of them getting pregnant and giving birth to a child is so plain that it does not worth any comment. Another evidence of Same-Sex Relationship in Yoruba culture according to George is the local Yoruba Christian song in which the singers describe themselves as the Bride and Jesus as their Groom. This, he wrote is marriage experienced at the metaphysical level between all Christians - male and female -  and Jesus Christ. Problem with George's interpretation of the local Christian singers is that he is indirectly accusing them of making Jesus Christ a bisexual man since they are males and females intending to marry Jesus who is a male. Strangely, in the absence of Jesus here on earth, the Christian singers have not been caught practising homosexuality, lesbianism, or bisexualism. Let us say that the female singers were very serious about their wish to live a polygamous life with Jesus, the male singers could not have wished to live a homosexual life with him since they, as Christians, ought to be aware of Jesus stand as repeatedly recorded in Mathew 19: 4-6 and Mark 10: 6-7 thus, "But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female and for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife." Further in Ephesians 5: 31 it is repeated, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife and the two shall be one flesh." Obviously, George is engaged in self-fulfilled interpretation of the Yoruba Christian song about Jesus.

 

George wrote, "Òranjú kankan bí ojú adófùrò" and he translated it as, "He strains his eye bulbs like a man fucking anus." In view of that he inferred that the expression showed that homosexual must have been practised by Yoruba, if not, the word adófùrò which is a homosexual practice would not have existed. If the person penetrating the anus, according to George, is straining his eyes, how then would the eyes of the person whose anus is being penetrated look like? During the HIV/AIDS outbreak in US, in the 80s and 90s the first set of afflicted  heterosexuals were female prostitutes that engaged in anal intercourse with customers. Thus, anal intercourse is not limited to male homosexuals. Just like the HIV/AIDS, homosexuality is a new phenomenon in Yorubaland, as in other parts of Africa, and the name ADÓFÙRÒ is a recent creation invented to describe the situation. George could not tell us what a lesbian is called in Yoruba because it doesn't exist and just like homosexuality, a Yoruba name like APÓN'BÒLÁ (VAGINA LICKER) would be appropriate name for lesbian.

 

In Nigeria, polygamy, where a man could marry with more than one wife is legal, while in the Western World it is criminal. The Western World that wants to impose LGBTI on Nigeria argues that the sexual agreement between grown up persons should not be criminalised. Why then do the same Western world criminalise Polygamy in which two or more women consent to marrying one man? It is impossible to stop NGOs supported with dollars from abroad to write about LGBTI rights in Nigeria when at the same time the fundamental human rights of citizens to potable water, good roads, descent housing, access to quality education and full employment are denied. May God protect us from those who undo us and sympathise with us. 

S.Kadiri

 

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Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2016 01:59:45 -0700
From: esul...@gmail.com
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Revisiting dialectics on transgender phenomenon