INTRODUCTION
The early history of most cultures are part purely legendary, and
that of the history of the Yoruba nation is not different, it is involved in
obscurity, the people being unlettered, the language unwritten all that is known
is from traditions carefully handed down (S. Johnson, 1921).
In Yoruba, the king is considered sacred, they are venerated as
gods, and some have been deified, like Sango (Olufinran), and it is unthinkable
for a man to lay his hands upon a being that is considered sacred, so a king
cannot be killed, even after he is being rejected by the people, he can
invariably commit suicide. That is why the Yorubas have the saying, Iku
baba yeye, Alase ikeji orisa, (i.e the father of my mother, second
only to the gods).
KING JAYIN
King Jayin was the son of Karan. He was describe as an “effeminate
and dissolute prince, whose harem was filled with all sorts of characters”
(S.Johnson, 1921)(P.170)
The post-colonial Yoruba culture being a patriarchal one puts a lot
of emphasis on the display of gender roles, and any one that does not fit into
these socially acceptable roles is considered, either effeminate or discordant
as in the case of king Jayin, because pre-colonial Yoruba culture finds such
acceptable with the confines of the tradition, that is why, we have a female
regent (Iyayin).
Supporting this notion, Davis and Whitten (1987) reported the “a
wide variety of homosexual behavior is reported, including lesbianism in
polygynous households where the use of artificial phalli was a compensation for
a rare heterosexual intercourse (p.20). (Ben Anderson, The politics of
Homosexuality in Africa, Africana Journal, Vol. 1, No.1, 2007).
The king was married, but he was considered effeminate and
dissolute, is a misconception about homosexuality, that gay males are
effeminate, which the writer was able to show in also describing him as a
dissolute king. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, dissolute means
that “one who ,lacks restraint and indulging in like promiscuous sex and
degrading to human nature.
One cannot but think, why someone who is effeminate should be so
described in such strong terms, noting that someone who can be such described,
would be displaying feminine qualities untypical of a man. But the writer used
the strong term of dissolute to describe him based on his religion,
Christianity. The prejudice and the marginalization of homosexuality are
attributed to the missionaries’ outright condemnation of the practice
(Pincheon. B: An Ethnography of Silences: Race, (Homo)Sexualities, and a
discourse of Africa, African studies review, 2000, p.5).
The king was acceptable to his people, his sexual orientation then
was not a barrier for him becoming the king even after his despotic father,
Karan, although the community were aware of his orientation even before
becoming the king.
This alluded to the fact that homosexuality was an acceptable
sexual orientation in pre-colonial Yoruba tradition.
CONCLUSION
From the forgoing it shows that the universal expectations in
cultures intolerant of gay people that males will be erotically affected only
by what the culture regards as feminine, and females only by culturally defined
masculinity, lead inevitably to the anticipation that males who which attract
other males will be effeminate and females erotically interested in females
will be masculine.
The Yoruba tradition does not tolerate but accept homosexuality as
an alternative lifestyle, not as homogenal but really a homosexual
relationship, that is consensual and not frown upon by the society.
Although there are few scholarly researches on the person of King
Jayin, this piece is meant to stir up that conversation along the line.
It is pertinent to
note that the limitations of conscious research are limited and one cannot
expect and should not demand from instrical sources to the proof of emotional
states.
No comments:
Post a Comment