Seriously accounting for local categories: Gendered sexual orientation among “men who have sex with men” in Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract

In most African countries, a significant proportion of “men who have sex with men” (MSM) are divided according to a spectrum of sex-role stereotypes, with some identifying themselves as more feminine and others as more masculine. These gendered roles correspond to local categories and specific terms that are rarely considered by quantitative surveys. In a telephone-based survey conducted in 2018 and 2019 among 518 MSM in Côte d’Ivoire that included several questions on sexual orientation and gender identities, we seriously accounted for local categories by investigating what we call “gendered sexual orientation” within the local identities of woubi and yossi.According to their official definitions, woubis are often associated with a female gender role and a receptive sexual role, and yossis are typically associated with a male gender role and an insertive sexual role. However, two additional categories emerged in our study: those self-identifying as both woubi and yossi and those who identify as neither woubi nor yossi. However, the woubi/yossi distinction is far from clear-cut in Côte d’Ivoire because of a particular and persistent avoidance of effeminate behaviors among individuals and their partners. Overall, this study underscores how local categories of gendered sexual orientation blend with global categories to form a syncretic and plural whole.