Attitudes and views on same-sex sexual behavior in Ghana

Adobea Yaa Owusu¹*, John Kwasi Anarfi² and Eric Yeboah Tenkorang³

¹Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 74, Legon, Ghana.

²Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 96, Legon, Ghana.

³Department of Sociology, Memorial University, St. John's, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada.

*Corresponding Author E-mail: yaa_owusu@hotmail.com, gaowusu@ug.edu.gh; Telephone:  +233-(0)289-556-878; Fax: +233-21-512-504

Accepted 07 August, 2013

Abstract

There is little research in sub-Saharan Africa on same-sex and other non-normative sexual relationships. In the era of HIV and AIDS which is mostly sexually transmitted in sub-Saharan Africa, and given previous authors’ findings regarding the HIV epidemic among black MSM across the African diaspora,  we argue for  focusing  on  the  social  implications  of  same-sex  sexual  behavior. Using evidence from Ghana and positioning our findings within recent scholarship on same-sex relationships in some parts of the world, particularly within African settings, we contribute to the body of knowledge on this issue. With 81 individual and group qualitative interviews from persons aged 10-80 years, we focused on the hostilities and prejudices directed against such non-normative sexual expressions.  We  also  traced  the  historical  and socio-geo-political trend influencing homophobic attitudes  towards  same-sex  relationships  from existing literature, pointing out  that the  current hostilities and branding of these behaviors  may  have been  integrated into traditional views of sexuality  in  Ghana, with time.  We concluded that there was a high level of stigma attached to same-sex sexual behavior by our respondents.  We recommend further studies on the transitional histories of same-sex and persons who have sex with both males and females’ relationships and the cultural and related social contexts in which these have evolved and thrive.

Keywords:  Sexual behavior, men who have sex with men (MSM), women who have sex with women, persons who have sex with both males and females, homophobia, Ghana.