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Garçons Manqués and Femmes Fortes: Two Ambivalent Figures of Butch Lesbianism in Women’s Football in Cameroon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2022

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Abstract

With the enactment of anti-homosexuality laws in the 1960s, Cameroon’s government officially endorsed heterosexualist ideologies which legitimize the alienation and criminalization of minority and nonconforming sexual and gender identities. One group, the so-called garçons manqués, embodies the stigmatized masculine or “butch” lesbian identity. The political management of lesbianism in Cameroon is ambivalent, however, with respect to sport, and particularly regarding the national pastime, football. Whereas masculine lesbians are routinely branded as “butches” or “sexual predators” who threaten African hetero-patriarchy, “strong women"” (femmes fortes) are celebrated as pivotal to the national ambition. Cameroon’s government strategically amalgamates both heteronationalism and homonationalism in the interest of national pride.

Résumé

Résumé

Avec la promulgation de lois anti-homosexualité dans les années 1960, le gouvernement camerounais a officiellement souscrit aux idéologies hétérosexualistes qui légitiment l’aliénation et la criminalisation des identités sexuelles et de genre minoritaires. Un groupe, les soi-disant garçons manqués, incarne l’identité lesbienne masculine ou « butch » stigmatisée. La gestion politique du lesbianisme au Cameroun est cependant ambivalente vis-à-vis du sport, en particulier le football qui est un passe-temps national. Alors que les lesbiennes masculines sont systématiquement qualifiées de « garçons manqués » ou de « prédateurs sexuels » menaçant l’hétéro-patriarcat africain, les « femmes fortes » sont plutôt célébrées comme le pivot de l’ambition nationale. Le gouvernement camerounais fusionne stratégiquement à la fois l’hétéronationalisme et l’homonationalisme dans l’intérêt de la fierté nationale.

Resumo

Resumo

Na década de 1960, ao aprovar um conjunto de leis penalizadoras da homossexualidade, o Governo dos Camarões caucionou oficialmente as ideologias heterossexuais que legitimam a alienação e a criminalização das identidades sexuais e de género minoritárias e contrárias à norma. Um destes grupos marginalizados, as chamadas garçons manqués, personifica a identidade estigmatizada das lésbicas masculinas ou “machonas”. O modo de gerir politicamente a questão do lesbianismo é, porém, ambivalente no que toca ao desporto, e em especial no que toca ao passatempo nacional: o futebol. Ao passo que as lésbicas masculinas são quotidianamente apelidadas de “machonas” ou de “predadoras sexuais”, acusadas de porem em causa o patriarcado heterossexual africano, as “mulheres fortes” (femmes fortes) são enaltecidas como elemento central para as ambições desportivas do país. Para defender o interesse do orgulho nacional, o Governo dos Camarões adota estrategicamente uma mistura de heteronacionalismo e de homonacionalismo.

Keywords

women’s footballgarçons manquésfemmes fortesbutch lesbianismfemale masculinityheteronationalismhomonationalismCameroonfootball féminingarçons manquésfemmes forteslesbianisme masculinmasculinité fémininehétéronationalismehomonationalismeCameroun
Type
Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 65 , Issue 3 , September 2022 , pp. 568 - 590
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association

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Footnotes

*

This article has been amended since its original publication to correct a misspelling in the author’s surname. See 10.1017/asr.2022.95.

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