THE FUTURE OF PLEASURE FOR NIGERIA

Derived from the crucial theme of the 2022 World Sexual Health Day, "Let's Talk Pleasure", Media, Health and Rights Initiative of Nigeria (MHR) reaffirmed her commitment to work towards propagating the awareness of sexual health which will effect better and pleasurable sexual experiences, especially among marginalized populations. For MHR, three tenets of focus come to mind in all campaign strategies; Information, Equality, and Inclusion.

?For climes like Nigeria which are strongly immersed in socio-cultural, traditional, and religious practices, pleasure indeed means different things. Over the years, patriarchy has deemed pleasure for women as "whatever the husband wants". In this context that has been propagated for centuries, women are meant to pursue the satisfaction of men either through domesticity or sex in marriage and then derive their own pleasure from this. Times have changed as more movements towards gender equality have sprung up. Where it previously seemed like rebellion for women to know their erogenous zones and also demand pleasure from their sexual partner whether in marriage or not, now it is slowly becoming a norm. Women are beginning to not only know that they have total rights over their bodies and can choose whom and how they want to be pleasured, but many have also begun to take this liberating knowledge and put it into practice. Thus the cry of "values are diminishing" and "good women are hard to find" that is getting louder with the turn of globalization.

For World Sexual Health Day 2022, MHR campaigned for equality and inclusion in sexual behavior. There is no time as the present for us to accept that everybody, including marginalized communities deserve the right to their bodies just like everybody else. The unanimous definition of sexual pleasure as documented by the United Nations is "...the physical and/or psychological satisfaction and enjoyment derived from shared or solitary erotic experiences, including thoughts, fantasies, dreams, emotions, and feelings.”?In light of this, according to the World Association for Sexual Health, World Sexual Health Day reaffirmed that “Self-determination, consent, safety, privacy, confidence and the ability to communicate and negotiate sexual relations are key enabling factors for pleasure to contribute to sexual health and well-being. Sexual pleasure should be exercised within the context of sexual rights, particularly the rights to equality and non-discrimination, autonomy and bodily integrity, and the right to the highest attainable standard of health and freedom of expression. The experiences of human sexual pleasure are diverse and sexual rights ensure that pleasure is a positive experience for all concerned and not obtained by violating other people’s human rights and well-being.”

Taking into consideration where the global community stands with these clear definitions as well as where Nigeria is at in the journey to discovery, MHR hereby defines pleasure in the Nigerian context, as freedom. MHR looks forward to a time when stronger legislation on the human rights of citizens when it comes to our bodies is gazetted. A time when people will not be judged over their pursuit of pleasure because their choices are not popular. A time when populations considered weaker in terms of physical strength will no more live in fear of their bodies being violated and their freedom and power of choice taken away. A time when stiffer punishments for rape and sexual offenses will be incorporated into the constitution and be observed without fear or favor. MHR also looks forward to a time when members of the queer community will no more be regarded as different, and be allowed to express their interpretation of love and their sexual preferences as free citizens who have a right to freedom and privacy.

Working towards this beautiful and pleasurable future may seem like a Herculean task but MHR has always leveraged the power of people and partnerships to achieve goals and will continue to do so to assure the coming generations of an equal, informed, and inclusive society.?