(State-sponsored) homophobia and the invisibility of queer women in Senegal

A homofobia e a invisibilidade das mulheres queer no Senegal

Abstract

This article examines state-sponsored homophobia in Senegal, focusing on its key actors, underlying causes and socio-political consequences. Central to this discussion is the erasure of the góor-jigéen, a historical figure whose exclusion reflects broader efforts to suppress all forms of sexual and gender diversity in the country. Framed in a rhetoric that
constructs homosexuality as both “un-African” and incompatible with Islam, this narrative further criminalizes LGTBQ+ individuals and reinforces the legal, religious and cultural mechanisms of oppression they face all at once. Particular attention is also given to the lives of queer women in Senegal, whose experiences remain largely overlooked and understudied both in academic research as in public discourse, contributing to their generalized invisibility. In examining how queer women strategically employ sutura and terànga to navigate repression and maintain social ties, this research highlights how they are discreetly contesting traditional norms and creating spaces for queer expression.