Human sexuality: meaning and purpose in selected communities in contemporary Kenya

All over the world sex is used for biological purposes, but not exclusively so. In the African context marital sex has an important role of facilitating procreation and thus solidifying a relationship between the partners and the wider circle of their kin. African societies place a high premium on fertility, and a family endowed with many offspring is indeed privileged. Other functions of sex include accomplishment of religious, ritual and social obligations. This paper explores the socio-cultural regulations that govern human sexuality and its meaning and function in contemporary Kenyan communities. The focus is on the Luo community, with cautious comparisons and contrast with others such as the Agikuyu, the Akamba, Luhya and Maasai people. These are selected in the context of the author's experiences and research conducted among these people in the last several years.

The Luo, a Nilotic ethnic group, and locally famous for their soccer enthusiasm, occupy three districts bordering Lake Victoria on one side and Nandi and Kakamega districts on the other. Before the Luo dispersal and migration, their ancestors in Southern Sudan practised a transient semi-pastoral economy which suited the environment of their cradle-land. Fishing seems to have played a major role in their economy. The Luo economic activities revolve around crop cultivation, animal husbandry and fishing.

Kisumu, the major town, is a fast-growing urban centre, and as the hub of western Kenya it is the focus of both male and female migrants in search of employment. Stretching around Lake Victoria, Kisumu can best be seen as a rural town where some sections are purely rural households while others are residential areas in the busy urban district. Kisumu is located strategically on the major Nairobi-Uganda highway and is, therefore, a major transit point for travellers and traders. Generalized poverty in the outlying areas contributes to migration into towns. Oucho (1) notes that the migrants into Kisumu maintain a rural orientation so that there is movement back and forth. Given this scenario, the general problems of urbanization in major cities apply to Kisumu.

The scourge of HIV and AIDS has hit the Lake Victoria region, and the surrounding communities have had heavy toll of infection and loss of life. Many theories have been advanced in an attempt to explain this trend. For instance, researchers continue to investigate the hypothesis that male circumcision contributes towards protection against HIV infection, to some extent. Traditionally the Luo community does not practise male circumcision but recent studies have embarked on voluntary male circumcision under the supervision of strict hygienic practices.

To the north of Kisumu are the Luhya ethnic group, a Bantu group thus sharing common values with the Agikuyu and Akamba of central and eastern Kenya, respectively. However, due to physical proximity the Luo and the Luhya share some cultural practices, as will be demonstrated later. To the west and north of Kenya's capital city, Nairobi, the Agikuyu are found in four districts while the Akamba people border Nairobi to the east and occupy two expansive districts in the dry savannah. The Akamba and the Agikuyu share much in common.

The Maasai, on the other hand, are a pastoral community who still practise some form of nomadic life-style, moving from one area to another in search of pastures for their herds. This mobility pattern became especially obvious during the frequent prolonged drought plaguing the country in the recent past. The Maasai lived in the arid parts of the country south and west of Nairobi, and were socially and culturally secluded from the agricultural communities. Social change and cash economy has infiltrated into the Maasai community lately and the warriors (moran) migrate to the major towns to seek employment as night watchmen. External forces have generated a process of change in Maasailand, thus in turn forcing the Maasai to adapt to change as a survival strategy.

In this paper the author explores the diverse cultural meaning and function of sex among selected Kenyan communities and how these may contribute to the transmission and spread of HIV and AIDS morbidity patterns, and subsequently to suffering and mortality in these communities.

The meaning and function of sex

In different socio-cultural contexts, sex may mean different things in different occasions for a given community. Interactive participation and discussions with various groups reveals that sex remains central in the life of these communities. Questions targeting the deeper meaning of sex were posed to various discussion groups. Explication and emphasis varied according to the age, gender and social status of the specific group. It was noted that the various groups frequently used metaphors to explain the deeper values. For example, among the youth there was greater emphasis on sex as a source of pleasure, to prove or "flavour" love, often invoking the expression that "tea without sugar" is less delicious. The youth explained that it was important to experiment with the sexual organs, partly to remove the anxiety of non-performance, and to prove virility. Sex for procreation was rated lowest and of the least significance among the various groups of youth, both males and females.