A Phenomenological Study of Sexuality among the People of Tutu Akuapem-Ghana: Implications for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE)

Abstract

Issues about human sexuality have generated serious discussion in both public and academic discourses. In Ghana, the recent frightening figures of teenage pregnancy and diverse reactions to homosexuality, gay, bisexual, and transgender in news outlets have heightened the exigency of sexuality deliberations among religious, political, human rights activists, and social commentators. Amid the controversies and difficulties surrounding sexuality matters, the question is how do Africans maintain their ‘Africanness’ in search of expanded understandings and pedagogies of sexuality? Which indigenous conventions and rites must be interrogated to have the 21stcentury African child well informed and equipped to deal with his/ her sexuality? Using the phenomenological approach, the researchers sought to examine indigenous sexuality rites and norms of the people of Tutu Akuapem Community in the Eastern region of Ghana, focusing on puberty and marriage rites of passage. The study argues for a carefully thought-out compromise between custodians of indigenous values of sexuality and modern theorists and activists for new(er) ways of conceiving, expressing, and teaching sexuality. It recommends that the content of the newly designed curriculum of sexuality education in our schools must be adapted to reflect African worldviews, values, and customs of sexuality.

Keywords

• sexuality
• gender
• phenomenology
• comprehensive sex education
• rite of passage