A conversation starter like Three Women but centering the experiences of women of color: a mellifluous chorus celebrating the liberation, individuality, and joy of African women’s multifaceted sexuality
Thanks to her blog, Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women, Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah has spent decades talking openly and intimately to African women around the world about sex. For this book she spoke to over thirty African women across the globe while chronicling her own journey toward sexual freedom.
We meet Yami, a pansexual Canadian of Malawian heritage, who describes negotiating the line between family dynamics and sexuality. There’s Esther, a cisgendered hetero woman studying in America by way of Cameroon and Kenya, who talks of how a childhood rape has made her rebellious and estranged from her missionary parents. And Tsitsi, an HIV-positive Zimbabwean woman who is raising a healthy, HIV-free baby.
Across a queer community in Egypt, polyamorous life in Senegal, and a reflection on the intersection of religion and pleasure in Cameroon, Sekyiamah explores the many layers of love and desire, its expression, and how it forms who we are.
In these confessional pages, women control their own bodies and pleasure and assert their sexual power. Capturing the rich tapestry of sex positivity, The Sex Lives of African Women is a singular and subversive book that celebrates the liberation, individuality, and joy of African women’s multifaceted sexuality.
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“Dazzling…The tone is hopeful, resilient, and accepting. Marked by the diversity of experiences shared, the wealth of intimate details, and the total lack of sensationalism, this is an astonishing report on the quest for sexual liberation.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Touching, joyful, defiant—and honest.”
— The Economist (London)“Groundbreaking…A candid, subversive, and empowering read.”
— Ms. Magazine“Its stories are raw, unencumbered, exhilarating, and, at times, enraging.”
— The Independent (London)“The stories, as written by Sekyiamah, are mesmerizing. The women shared with her, and by extension with us, with true generosity.”
— Glamour“Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah is changing the way African women talk about sex.”
— Harper’s Bazaar“Readers will resonate with the honesty of these stories, and hopefully feel more courageous to live their truth each day.”
— Bust“The honesty and frankness with which these women share their experiences of falling in love, lust, and their traumas, too, is fascinating.”
— BuzzFeed“A book like none you will have read before.”
— The Guardian (London)Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah is a feminist activist, writer, and blogger. She is the cofounder of Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women, an award-winning blog that focuses on African women, sex, and sexualities, and she writes frequently for The Guardian, Open Democracy, and elsewhere. She works with the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) as director of communications and tactics. She lives in Accra, Ghana.
Adenrele Ojo is an actress, dancer, and audiobook narrator, winner of over a dozen Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2018. She made her on-screen debut in My Little Girl, starring Jennifer Lopez, and has since starred in several other films. She has also performed extensively with the Philadelphia Dance Company. As the daughter of John E. Allen, Jr., founder and artistic director of Freedom Theatre, the oldest African American theater in Pennsylvania, is no stranger to the stage. In 2010 she performed in the Fountain Theatre’s production of The Ballad of Emmett Till, which won the 2010 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Ensemble. Other plays include August Wilson’s Jitney and Freedom Theatre’s own Black Nativity, where she played Mary.
Deanna Anthony is a classically trained singer, actress, and audiobook narrator. A former beauty queen, she has performed in over fifty regional and international theaters. When not working, she enjoys quilting and sewing, reading romance, and enjoying home-cooked meals and baked treats.Joniece Abbott-Pratt has narrated many audiobooks for children, young adults, and adults. She has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards and in 2021 was a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for Best Fantasy Narration. She earned an MFA degree in acting from the University of Iowa and has performed on regional theater stages across the country, including the Public Theater in New York City. She has also appeared on television shows, including The Good Fight, Law and Order: SVU, Luke Cage, and Orange Is the New Black, and has voiced commercials and projects for US Bank, Johnson & Johnson, and others.
Janina Edwards, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, is a native of Chicago and a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts acting program. Her 2016 performance of Voice of Freedom was a finalist for the Audie Award.