Niger is criminalizing asexuality

[AnaAnzaldua]

Hi everyone! 

My name is Ana, I'm a sexologist and a human rights scholar/advocate. 

 

I'm currently doing an investigation on Mexican Asexuality Community, but... Yesterday I read that Niger (not to be confused with Nigeria) made modifications to it's penal code and now is criminalizing asexuality with 5 to 10 years prison. 

Maybe a lot of things got lost in translation, but the news I found points out to a lot of interesting topics I'd like to talk about and know if anyone has opinions on them.

 

First: How do you persecute someone for something they don't do?

I get that every identity has had a point where it becomes a crime because  🌟the system🌟but as a prelaw I wonder. How? Why? Are they really gonna waste resources in trying to force everyone to be alo?

Maybe is just the process to every identity that challenges the norm. If so, ew. No words, just ew. 

 

Second: I can't help but think about how Niger's government is a militar regime and the economy is based in agriculture and cattle raising. For me, this talks about how (one more time), capitalism and amatonormanity are intertwined.

 

Thirth: Their prime minister occupies a discourse against colonization. The argument points out that human rights and diversity are tools made to and for colonizers (and I think it has a point) but in the reform they took the acronym LGBTQIA+, copy and paste every letter without considering their pre-colonization history. Sadly I could found anything on this reward, but thought about the Yoruba tribe and their cosmovision towards gender and sex.

 

Anyway. I'll try to be online to continue the chat but I forget to connect from time to time. LOL. 

 

[Kelly]

There is a reddit discussion on this. It became law last month.

 

 

[purple_rain]

1 hour ago, AnaAnzaldua said:

Maybe is just the process to every identity that challenges the norm.

I just did a quick Google research after reading your post - I hadn't heard of this issue before - and it seems that they're indeed just lumping together all queer identities as something that is 'against the country's values'. So I think you might be right, they want to criminalize everything that challenges the norm. 

I wouldn't even know what 'asexual practices' or 'transgender practices' are supposed to be. If it weren't so tragical I would laugh at the idea of flaunting my genderqueerness.

 

Anyway, I'm glad you found your way to this forum, Ana.  

 

2 hours ago, AnaAnzaldua said:

I'm a sexologist and a human rights scholar/advocate. 

 

That's an awesome combination, and I'd be interested in reading about the asexual community in Mexico if you ever want to share your findings here.

[fantastic mx. foxglove]

I was curious about this, so I decided to take a look around the internet to see if this is true. Not because I doubt you or want to prove you wrong or anything. I just wanted to see the proof with my own eyes before forming my opinion.

If anyone is curious/skeptical, most articles cover the event with the angle that it criminalises homosexual acts. Most of them don't mention asexuality. I was able to find the article in the law that was being applied, and, yes, as a fluent French speaker, I can confirm that the law clearly includes asexuality in its definition.

It says:

Quote

Les pratiques lesbiennes, gays, bisexuelles, transgenres, queers, intersexes, asexuelles (LGBTQIA+) ou tout autre comportement contre nature sont bannis et punis par la loi.

Which translates to:

Quote

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) practices or any other behaviour which goes against nature are banned and punishable by the law.

If anyone's curious, you can find it here (it's article 25).

 

I don't think this law was created with any real understanding of LGBTQIA+ people or how their identities work. The law makers probably wanted to ban, at the very least, gay and transgender people because of discrimination and they decided to throw other queer identities under the bus because they don't like them, even if they don't understand them. I see similar practices in other countries such as the US and the UK where policies are being put in place with the intent of discriminating against people (especially trans people right now) without considering how enforceable such policies may be and how that might affect people who are outside of the group they are targeting

 

I don't think there's any way they could possibly enforce this law against asexual people. I don't think that's the point, not do I think they care if they can do anything about it. (I'm not even fully sure they totally understand, or care to try to understand, what asexuality means.) They want to indiscriminately ban LGBTQIA+ people from existing because that's the big, scary label that includes gay and transgender people

 

I also find it odd that they want to ban intersex people. If a baby is born and they are intersex, what are they possibly going to do? Throw that baby in jail for the crime of having "wrong-looking" genitals? And then what? Their intersex traits aren't magically going to change, so do they just throw them in jail again and hope it works this time?

I'm mostly joking, and trying to point out how silly this law is. What would probably actually happen would be that they would perform surgery on the kid to make them conform with what they think this baby should look like. There's a whole other conversation to be had about that, so I'll stop there

 

Related, an article I found

[Philip027]

Oh boy, there go all my Nigerian travel plans!

[everywhere and nowhere]

By the way, I have a purely technical question. How to stop such Reddit "boxes" like in this topic (I don't know how is it called) being displayed in Polish to me?

I previously blocked automatic translation of Reddit topics, and when I click the link, it opens in English - however, I don't remember anymore how I did it.  But I want to avoid, as completely as it is possible, contact with machine-translated texts because they offend my love for Language. I vastly prefer an original text in English, or even in a language I understand only passively, such as Czech, to a Polish text which has been translated by a stupid bot which doesn't understand context or usage, or even what context or usage is.

[purple_rain]

1 hour ago, fantastic mx. foxglove said:

I don't think that's the point, not do I think they care if they can do anything about it. (I'm not even fully sure they totally understand, or care to try to understand, what asexuality means.) They want to indiscriminately ban LGBTQIA+ people from existing because that's the big, scary label that includes gay and transgender people

You're confirming what I'd already assumed - thanks for sharing your thoughts on this! And I have to admit that I was today years old when I learned that le français était la langue officielle du Niger (jusqu'en 2025) 😯

[thylacine]

OMG how ridiculous - they are outlawing what people don't do ??? !!!

[Barbio]

The absurdity of this would honestly be hilarious if people's lives weren't at stake...

[everywhere and nowhere]

At least it can be taken as proof for two things. One, that asexuality is queer. And second: make no mistake, it isn't some innocent private matter akin to solving sudoku or growing flowers. Asexuality is a genuine threat to heteronormative status quo.

[peterh_137]

15 hours ago, fantastic mx. foxglove said:

I was curious about this, so I decided to take a look around the internet to see if this is true. Not because I doubt you or want to prove you wrong or anything. I just wanted to see the proof with my own eyes before forming my opinion

I'd seen Yasmin posting recently on her Insta re the new ban. I think there is also a seperate post on this in the forum somewhere 

[peterh_137]

15 hours ago, Philip027 said:

Oh boy, there go all my Nigerian travel plans!

You'll be grand with Nigeria since it's Niger that has the ban ( yes I know you were probably being sarcastic)

[Philip027]

6 hours ago, peterh_137 said:

You'll be grand with Nigeria since it's Niger that has the ban ( yes I know you were probably being sarcastic)

I didn't think about Nigeria, actually.  Not sure what the term would even be then for a resident/descriptive of Niger.

 

I think totally separate places with nearly identical names should be illegal.

[fantastic mx. foxglove]

It turns out that someone from Niger is called Nigerien, while someone from Nigeria is called Nigerian. One letter difference, but pronounced the same. I did not know this until this conversation got me curious and I looked it up

 

~the more you know~

[Philip027]

Consider myself learned

 

Still saying that should be illegal though

[Aro-Acing It]

Uh... how do you even criminalize asexuality? Like, I'm not saying that homosexuality should be illegal, but it's much more easier to define in in terms of how someone is prosecuted, like, if you have sex with someone of your same gender, you go to prison. And obviously, I hate that, but it doesn't make any sense to me how asexuality can be prosecuted. For many aces, it literally just means not having sex. Why is there a penalty against not having sex? I am so confused. 

[daveb]

I'm guessing they might go after anyone who participates or advocates for anything LGBTQIA+, or shut down organizations or sites, etc., within the country.

[Sally]

On 7/4/2026 at 1:55 AM, everywhere and nowhere said:

Asexuality is a genuine threat to heteronormative status quo.

How?  Seriously, just how?

[everywhere and nowhere]

2 hours ago, Sally said:

How?  Seriously, just how?

It places people outside of compulsory sexuality and compulsory reproduction.

At least, this awful development in Niger shows that it is perceived as a threat. Or those who made this law don't even understand words and just have heard that asexuality is very bad.

[heutgel8]

That is so sad. How can a government define something that is not related to a specific culture as an aspect of colonialism and illegal? This is not only illogical, it is arbitrary.

 

Think of all the vulnerable people like children, sick, religious groups.  Of course being sober is not the same as asexuality.  But I think it is important t to emphasize the violation of fundamental human rights.

“The power of the Universal Declaration (Of the Human Rights) is the power of ideas to change the world. It inspires us to continue working to ensure all people can gain freedom, equality and dignity." says the United Nations webpage  Freedom is the freedom of choice of the own sexuality.  Dignity is fulfilled, when needs and boundaries of each individual are respected.

 

Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person. With that law dignity and security of women and gender-diverse people are seriously threatened. 

I see also a relapse into so called "indigenous culture" which is interpreted in a fascist and chauvinistic way.

 

 

[heutgel8]

On 7/4/2026 at 10:55 AM, everywhere and nowhere said:

Asexuality is a genuine threat to heteronormative status quo.

  I would rather see that it is heteronormativity that poses a threat to asexuals.

t is people who are sexual that commit violence against asexual people, not asexual people against sexual people.

[Philip027]

21 hours ago, Aro-Acing It said:

Uh... how do you even criminalize asexuality?

You don't.  It's basically just a blanket statement saying "we hate all LGBTQIA+"

 

There is no real logic or understanding behind it, as there typically isn't with bigotry.

[AnaAnzaldua]

Hi everyone!

As stateted... Forgot to connect LOL

 

I tried to make a further investigation on the topic but my french is null and I don't trust that much in the Google Translator (there where things that grammatically felt weird).

I talked with some of my alo friends and some of my teachers and we keep comin' to the same point:

From a jurisdictionally point of view is inefficient. 

Like... Your police, your judges, the penitentiary system and everything else that revolves around penalties is coming for your sex life? Just think about the money you'll be spending in that if you actually have the willing to go for all and everyone of us the queers. 

Also, not to be cheesy but as someone who choose the concept of justice as a career I tend to think that this kind of reforms forget that every law you made (as a country) serves as a map of what kind of place you want to become 👏for👏your👏people👏

Whatever justice you pretend to serve is not mere paper, everyone of us lives it. Even globally. That's something I can't put my mind off. 

 

I do think that the people in most danger would be activist, openly queer advocates, allies and organizations. One of my friends offer the idea that would be an uprising in conversion therapies of all kind. My gut just reached the center of the earth when they said that, since is the path we see in history with other identities. Logically I understand. 

 

The idea of colonialism is also something I can't keep wondering. I understand, as a latina. Simultaneously, my self (ours) just exist with or without laws and frontiers. 

For me, compulsory sexuality is more colonial since you keep pushing capitalism and creating new tiny humans not for the joy of raise them but for the working force. 

 

 

[Butterware]

On 7/4/2026 at 8:55 AM, everywhere and nowhere said:

At least it can be taken as proof for two things. One, that asexuality is queer. And second: make no mistake, it isn't some innocent private matter akin to solving sudoku or growing flowers. Asexuality is a genuine threat to heteronormative status quo.

It feels like a chicken-egg situation to me, based on the French sentence. They took every letter of the acronym and added those as adjectives to "practices [..] punishable by law." People advocated for the A in the acronym to represent aceness, and so now whenever the acronym is brought up, so is aceness. If they hadn't, I'm sure "asexual [...] practices" wouldn't have been mentioned.

 

Also I don't really like the whole framing of needing "proof" for lived experiences. If someone experiences their asexuality as a form of queerness, they don't need to look for "validation" in bigoted institutions--their experience is evidence enough for them, and people who would disagree with them wouldn't be swayed by that.

 

On 7/3/2026 at 8:48 PM, everywhere and nowhere said:

By the way, I have a purely technical question. How to stop such Reddit "boxes" like in this topic (I don't know how is it called) being displayed in Polish to me?

I previously blocked automatic translation of Reddit topics, and when I click the link, it opens in English - however, I don't remember anymore how I did it.  But I want to avoid, as completely as it is possible, contact with machine-translated texts because they offend my love for Language. I vastly prefer an original text in English, or even in a language I understand only passively, such as Czech, to a Polish text which has been translated by a stupid bot which doesn't understand context or usage, or even what context or usage is.

Using a content blocking browser extension might do the trick? I'm still shown a very basic version of the box although I'm blocking Reddit. Not sure if that would prevent the automatic translation.

 

Otherwise, outside of Reddit embeds, you can use Reddit front-ends like redlib.catsarch.com and safereddit.com.

[AnaAnzaldua]

16 hours ago, Sally said:

How?  Seriously, just how?

Since my investigation for the thesis I've been trying to formulate the argument that asexuality is (in fact) the experience of finding joy and meaningful relationships and experiences outside the amatonormativity and capitalism since changes the focus of the couple/family as the center of our societies and therefore our lives. 

 

When we challenged the idea of partnership as a goal we damaged the economic structure that allows other expressions of power in the same way that other expressions of the diversity have done. 

Also also, actually actually. Centering sex as the maximum form of pleasure comes with the societal norm that you have to earn pleasure and you have to have someone to earn that pleasure and you have to have kids form them to repeat the cycle. And THEN you'll found happiness in pleasure. You earn it, congrats. 

 

If I just go on with my day actually enjoying my day to day work, and my coffee or my dogs and my hiking and my art, the power structures can't threaten me with solitude.

 

It's a looooooot, but we can keep chatting about it.