She Called Me Woman

Nigeria's Queer Women Speak

By: Chitra Nagarajen - editor, Azeenarh Mohammed - editor, Rafeeat Aliyu - editor

Narrated by: Christel Mutombo, Carol Nuga

“We decided to put together this collection of thirty narratives to correct the invisibility, the confusion, the caricaturizing and the writing out of history.”

This stirring and intimate collection brings together 30 unique narratives to paint a vivid portrait of what it means to be a queer Nigerian woman. Covering an array of experiences—the joy and excitement of first love, the agony of lost love and betrayal, the sometimes-fraught relationship between sexuality and spirituality, addiction and suicide, childhood games and laughter—She Called Me Woman sheds light on how Nigerian queer women, despite their differences, attempt to build a life together in a climate of fear.

Through first-hand accounts, She Called Me Woman challenges us to rethink what it means to be a Nigerian ‘woman’, negotiating relationships, money, sexuality and freedom, identifying outside the gender binary, and the difficulties of achieving hopes and dreams under the constraints of societal expectations and legal terrorism.

She Called Me Woman is full of beautifully told stories of resistance and resilience, joy and laughter, heartbreaks and victories, collecting the realities of a community that will no longer be invisible.

©2018 Editorial ©2018 by Azeenarh Mohammed, Chitra Nagarajan and Rafeeat Aliyu / Collection ©2018 by Cassava Republic Press (P)2022 Recorded Books