You’ve probably heard the story by now. Bread. Tinie Tempah. TY Bello. Then came the luxury flat, features by international news outlets, elocution lessons and an influx of brand endorsements. If you haven’t heard about Olajumoke Orisaguna, you can catch up here. I’m always interested in the way Nigerians react to popular events. It reveals so much about the bits that…
Category: Women
This is what 81 looks like: An Hour with Gloria Steinem
One of my favourite things to do is listen to people smarter than I am or who know more about a particular subject than I do. It’s why I love TED talks and my dream job would be going from place to place listening to intelligent people say intelligent things (for the most part). My idea of doing something adventurous is hopping…
A Hilarious Celebration of Lifelong Female Friendship
I can attest to the power of female friendships. When I was younger though, I thought that other girls were not worth my time. I didn´t think that I could find myself in them. I wasn´t a girly girl, didn´t have manicures or tweeze my eyebrows. How wrong was I! As I get older I appreciate and try and hold onto…
Taking a Stand Against Rape & Supporting Rape Survivors with Mirabel Centre
On Tuesday last week, I had the opportunity to be at the launch of the Friends of Mirabelevent organised by the Mirabel Centre. Established in 2013, The Mirabel Centre is the only rape support centre in Lagos. Since the centre opened its doors, they have welcomed 1074 rape survivors so far. The centre was largely unknown until a moving AlJazeera report about the challenges the centre…
Is Virginity Is A Myth? This video explains it all
Did your hymen break the first time you had sex? I’m asking the ladies here. Did you ever wonder why the sheets weren’t blood stained the first time you did the deed, and you wondered if your partner wondered that you lied about your virginity (yes I’m talking about me here)? Well, wonder no more. This short video from Adam Ruins Everything explains…
The state with a male commissioner of women affairs appoints 49 administrators- only one is a woman
The Gist Governor Muhammadu Jibrilla of Adamawa state swore in 49 newly-appointed Development Area Administrators. The lone woman is Esther Pius. Why’s this important? Back in September, the Governor appointed a man, Aliyu Tola, as the Commissioner of Women Affairs. His chief press secretary, Yohannna Mathias, defended the governor’s actions by stating: “It’s a normal practice as it happened in Bauchi and…
When raping grandmums is a joke, you know we have a problem
The first joke goes something like this. There was a convict who had spent many years in prison. He decides that the first woman he lays eyes on, he’s going to rape. He gets out and the first woman he sees is an old woman missing almost all her teeth. He decides to go ahead but shows pity by counting the…
The Lady Goes House Hunting
“You aren’t married are you?”I looked up from my phone screen and shook my head. No. Up until then the conversation had been in Yoruba, a language I did not speak or understand.For the last five minutes Femi, my housing agent, had been pleading, cajoling on my behalf. He had wanted me to view a place he’d heard was perfect…
Hey…don’t hide your period
Nigerians are some of the least environmentally friendly people I know. Man, woman and child, we toss garbage out of our moving cars. We unwrap items and let the packaging fall where we stand. We then innocently wonder why our roads flood when it rains. Where other countries are trying to cut back on plastic bag usage (Wales, for instance,…
Pepper Spray? All I Need Is A Ring
This week, I thought about buying a wedding ring. No I’m not trying to get married to myself a la Sue Sylvester in the much declined (how did it get so bad so fast!?) Glee. No, I’m not going to do the uber-feminist thing and propose to a man. You see, I just need a ring for protection. Not pepper…