Can anybody that knows Nigerian history give me an insight on the origin of prostitution in Nigeria?. Did we have prostitutes in Nigeria before the colonial masters?. How were men satisfying their animalistic sexual ego back then if there were no prostitutes?.

If prostitution did not originate from our mother land, how come we have a name for it or was the name adopted after Europeans imported that trade into our culture?

@ EM
Don't u know that prostitution is the oldest trade in the world.
Its been around for centuries and in all cultures .

i'm sure prostituition didnt exist in the pre-colonial days. it came with urbanization.
and men simply got married to satisfy the so caled animalistic urge.

@ EM
Don't u know that prostitution is the oldest trade in the world.
Its been around for centuries and in all cultures

How were they doing it in Nigeria/Africa then if they were not allowed to stand on the road or operate brothels?. Did they also have pimps then?

That’s a very good question, I have always wondered myself when I look at Igbo culture and setting. But that is when I really realized where polygamy came from. And still with men having over 5 wives they still sleep around with other men wives.

So it came that polygamy was well accepted rather than 1 man 1 wife attitude, which did not actually come about as a free will of the west either, but of the economic situation.

You look at it, to have 2 steady girlfriends in the west if u do not earn a lot as a young man, be sure u would soon end up begging anyway.

So Bill Clinton has always been right, "its the economy stupid", women in Africa especially the Igbo woman whom I have taking time to study, took to prostitution just to meet the demands of time, a time of materialism brought about by the west, when community strength was not strong anymore, and polygamy could not provide enough food for the large family anymore thereby failing to keep them together, the girl child had to turn a hustler, and to be sincere the Biafran war didn’t help matters, women who were so timid to exhibit what they do didn’t care to show it to people anymore, at least in terms of getting enough supplies from the Nigerian soldiers, they were better off.

So a new trade in the case of Igbo culture was brought to light.

But don’t get me wrong it has always been there, but at least the woman had to be in the house of a man whom is her legal husband, lets say a 25 year old girl married to an 80 year old man as the 7th wife.

She had to get her nicki somehow, not to talk of yam and all good farm produce, judging from the fact that she does not have children of hers yet and might never have, who would give it to her kwanu?

But why does she need the children I ask, how would she feed them, she doesn’t even have her own farmland to work on, when the 6th wife is still struggling to get one.

So she simple offers herself to Okoro and his friends whom she goes to the stream to fetch water with or firewood, in other to get a reward of farm produce. But mind u she is still under the 80 year old mans roof but in her own hut, which is also a makeshift brothel. 

Av said too much already.  Guess I should write a book. Why not kwanu? 

earTHMama:

How were they doing it in Nigeria/Africa then if they were not allowed to stand on the road or operate brothels?. Did they also have pimps then?

Probably something like that. Somebody has to manage the prostitute and allow her to work safely.

earTHMama:

How were they doing it in Nigeria/Africa then if they were not allowed to stand on the road or operate brothels?. Did they also have pimps then?

those who dnt stand on the road, have other means such as beer palors, where the madam usually the owner of the palor would make arragnments with the interested clients, she has the girls working for her.

then some pick up theirs at universities, either they have pimps arranging the clients or they work alone and they usually met clients by clubbing or other means.

then there are those who opreate through connections or private vip clubs.

so their many ways they operate without standing on the road, though that is still the most popular route

I think Prostutuion cam with the white man.

those who dnt stand on the road, have other means such as beer palors, where the madam usually the owner of the palor would make arragnments with the interested clients, she has the girls working for her.

then some pick up theirs at universities, either they have pimps arranging the clients or they work alone and they usually met clients by clubbing or other means.

then there are those who opreate through connections or private vip clubs.

so their many ways they operate without standing on the road, though that is still the most popular route

There were no pubs and universities back then. How were prostitutes operating in 12th century Nigeria when everybody lived in clans and huts and know each other by name?

earTHMama:

There were no pubs and universities back then. How were prostitutes operating in 12th century Nigeria when everybody lived in clans and huts and know each other by name?

since u r talking bout the colonial time ( i was just replying to that question u asked the other poster ) then it must have be done through private arrangement. knowing each other by name doesnt really make any difference, it is still business as usual. or maybe one person does it to get what they want (whatever be it they needed through those times), then from there it spreads. just a thought

What do you think they do during tales by the moonlight in the village?. They use farm houses/pens for sex at night. Women don't demand for sexual satisfaction those days, so all they did was thrust in and out for 2 mins.

Did we have prostitutes in Nigeria before the colonial masters?. How were men satisfying their animalistic sexual ego back then if there were no prostitutes?.

It's hard to imagine having prostitutes in precolonial times in Nigeria, since polygamy was already the rue of the day and it was quite necessary a woman got married as a virgin. Instead of a man keeping a mistress as the male counterpart in the Western world would do, he could just go ahead and marry her as his fifth wife. This is just what I feel, it's not a fact.

What of men that didn't have the resources to accommodate many wives? Were they jerking off in their wall?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ashewo

ashewo 14 up, 7 down
a nigerian street word meaning a slut or a LovePeddler. used to describe sluty girls on the streets or strippers.
"look at dat ashewo gel there. look at how she is opening herself fiam fiam!!"
by baba suay Apr 22, 2005 share this add comment

ashewo, omoale, etal are yoruba word. they are not new. end of story

Prostitution existed in precolonial era. I read some hausa books on stories and personal diaries written more than 100 years before colinial masters that talk about prostitution. Infact in one of the stories, the writer was part of the calvalry send to invade neighboring communities to capture slaves and women for prostitution. The master normally keeps the woman in his house and ppl pay, or do certain services and then get to do the thing with the slave. There are non women that does that over the history.

Those where the good old days. You do the thing and no disease. Now with all d chemicals, makes up, bathing and shaving; disease de.

God have mercy on us

In Hausa


Karuwanci - prostitution (Karuwa, the prostitute)
Madigo - Lesbianism
Luwadi - homoxuality (gay) - from (Lot in d bible and qur'an)
dadiro - mistress

However, I think some of these words are borrowed arabic words

Yes, prostitution was major part of several Nigerian ethnic cultures in the precolonial days; especially within the Edo/Bini, Efik, Kalabar and Hausa cultures.

iKeBe1, 

you a nigerian? you seems to know much for an AA  don't you think

*Hauwa*:

iKeBe1, 

you a nigerian? you seems to know much for an AA  don't you think

Well I make it a point to learn about other people's culture's. Despite what you may think, many of us African-Americans are actually fairly well informed about various parts of Africa. Some know a lot about Egypt, some know a lot about Ghana, some know a lot about Nigeria or South Africa or whatever other area in which interests them the most. I have Nigerian relatives, so I took i upon myself to learn a lot about Nigeria and its people.

funmi's mind

In Hausa


Karuwanci - prostitution (Karuwa, the prostitute)
Madigo - Lesbianism
Luwadi - homoxuality (gay) - from (Lot in d bible and qur'an)
dadiro - mistress

However, I think some of these words are borrowed arabic words

You mean they had lesbians in Hausaland during the precolonial days?

funmi's mind

What's up with my mind?

Yes, prostitution was major part of several Nigerian ethnic cultures in the precolonial days; especially within the Edo/Bini, Efik, Kalabar and Hausa cultures.

You carefully removed Ekiti and Igbo from your list. Don't they have prostitutes during that time?. As an AA, did they have AA prostitutes during slavery?

Prostitution existed in precolonial era. I read some hausa books on stories and personal diaries written more than 100 years before colinial masters that talk about prostitution. Infact in one of the stories, the writer was part of the calvalry send to invade neighboring communities to capture slaves and women for prostitution. The master normally keeps the woman in his house and people pay, or do certain services and then get to do the thing with the slave. There are non women that does that over the history.

Those where the good old days. You do the thing and no disease. Now with all d chemicals, makes up, bathing and shaving; disease de.

God have mercy on us

Thanks for the info. How come they weren't getting pregnant then when there were no birth controls and condoms?

earTHMama:

You carefully removed Ekiti and Igbo from your list. Don't they have prostitutes during that time?. As an AA, did they have AA prostitutes during slavery?

If you'll go back and read my post, you'd notice that I stated that the act was ESPECIALLY present within those ethnic groups. This dose not mean that it was not present within other groups, but rather that it was most prevalent within the groups I've mentioned.

Now to answer your question about AA women during the period of Slavery here in this nation; yes, there were AA women who were prostitutes during that period in time, though all of them were free AA women who mostly resided in the nation's major urban areas far away from the plantations. Many of these women worked in what were referred to as brothels and catered to primarily and or entirely to white men who were on the look out to act out their perverted fantasies of getting it on with a "wild, aggressive, self-controlless, Negra girl" as they viewed all black women as.

Some black women took it upon themselves to exploit this ignorance in an effort to survive in a place in which offered little other opportunities for women as a whole but especially black women at the time. New Orleans had many during that period.

Now to answer your question about AA women during the period of Slavery here in this nation; yes, there were AA women who were prostitutes during that period in time, though all of them were free AA women who mostly resided in the nation's major urban areas far away from the plantations. Many of these women worked in what were referred to as brothels and catered to primarily and or entirely to white men who were on the look out to act out their perverted fantasies of getting it on with a "wild, aggressive, self-controlless, Negra girl" as they viewed all black women as.

Some black women took it upon themselves to exploit this ignorance in an effort to survive in a place in which offered little other opportunities for women as a whole but especially black women at the time. New Orleans had many during that period.

Thanks for the information. You sound well informed.

yes it was
kb1 u are really informed

In some cultures, e.g Igbo, some teenage boys were encouraged to visit brothels.

Tsiya:

Those where the good old days. You do the thing and no disease. Now with all d chemicals, makes up, bathing and shaving; disease de.

Misinformation.

prostitution (of men and women) is the oldest profession in the world. it has existed on every continent and every culture since man first appeared. no one culture started it, please get over yourself.

earTHMama:

Thanks for the info. How come they weren't getting pregnant then when there were no birth controls and condoms?

egyptians came up with the first "natural" condom. people for centuries knew herbs/natural remidies that would cause miscarriages and other things that were thought to prevent pregnancy (everything from foxglove to crocodile dung)

earTHMama:

You mean they had lesbians in Hausaland during the precolonial days?

yes, covered numerous times on numerous threads

I think whoring came with the oyinbo !

Bandele:

I think whoring came with the oyinbo !

Yes, everything you don't like came with the oyibo; stealing came with the oyibo, corruption came with the oyibo, war came with the oyibo, even sex came with the oyibo.