It’s 2015, we live in a world of women’s rights, sexual fluidity, city living and the rise of the metrosexual man. A great number of things have changed since 1832. Hell, many things have changed since 1992. For one, a woman no longer dresses like her boyfriend, he is more likely to dress like her….
Author: Kagure Mugo
Kagure Mugo is the co-founder and full-time curator of HOLAAfrica! She is a part-time psuedo-academic and part-time wine-bar philosopher. A nomad (who has been everywhere and belongs nowhere) with a firm belief that no-one will love Africa till she loves herself.
“Men don’t court anymore.” A complaint I’ve heard more than once, men are less R&B and more hip hop, less Luther Vandross Buy Me a Rose and more Lil Joh “Turn Down for What”. The masculine types are no longer trying when it comes to the dating game. Maybe we should blame Tinder and the…
Selfies, Instragram, iPhone, Snapchat. We live in a world where if you didn’t take a picture of it, it didn’t happen. People won’t believe you ate that burger unless you take a picture and type #YumYum. Those in the technology industry have recognised this so now any Tom, Dick and Sally with a smartphone can…
“You will drive men crazy if you dress like that.” This common “compliment” smacks of the warning I once found in “Open Heavens”, a daily devotional from a Nigerian pastor. The devotional for the day said that if women “loved their neighbour” (see men) they would not dress in a way that distracted them from…
Do you ever wonder how much you’d “go for” when someone finally decides to “put a ring on it”? Should your modern family get money, cars? Surely your degree must count for something coupled with the fact that you have been doing squats for the last few months. In case you were wondering (and also…
Women’s Day, a time when we find new ways of brandishing the burdens of womanhood and showing the world the epic struggle that is being a female. It is also a day not safe from “religious holiday syndrome”. During Christmas or Easter a great number of people suddenly remember where their local church is having…
The kidnapping of more than 200 girls is confounding enough but now a singer in Nigeria has reportedly offered her virginity in exchange for the safe return of the girls. Adokiye Kyrian, a 23-year-old celebrity, is willing to take their place. This isn’t the first time Adokiye has offered herself up in exchange for something….
It’s the first date. The drink is flowing and the conversation’s amazing. Everything’s going well and you admire his shirt thinking “that’s the same shirt he wore to the club two weeks ago”. This would be an astute observation if it wasn’t for the fact that you’ve only just met this fine gentleman. So the…
Lupita Nyong’o recently won the award that upholds standards of beauty, the US People magazine’s “most beautiful person”. This is the same magazine that brings such enlightening articles as “Wiggly summer bums: Guess whose these are”. Nonetheless this is something to be lauded especially for an African woman. Personally as a continental girl child who…
Mansplain: the act of a man explaining something to a woman purely on the basis of her gender. Usually happens when the woman knows far more on the subject than the man in question. Portmanteau of the words man and explaining. One of the key components to mansplaining is to delight in condescending inaccurate explanations…
Dating has come a long way since the days when someone would send you a well-crafted letter from many miles away and then eagerly await your reply. Gone are the days when someone who was trying to woo you would visit and sit for hours in a garden politely conversing about a whole lot of…
There is constant talk of the “crisis of masculinity”. The idea that men are going through some “massive communal trauma” due to the tectonic shift within society that has been brought about by the empowerment of women. The notion is that men are so threatened by women being “strong” that they have decided to throw…
Women and men approach the dating game differently. Call it genetics, call it societal constraints, the average man and woman differ in their approaches. It would seem men have an “I shall overcome” mentality while women have the view that one rejection is a prelude to more to come. I have always marvelled at the…
Un-planned babies, scratches, itches and smells. These are some of the not-so-sexy consequences of coitus. When fantasies between the sheets are played out there are a whole host of realities that could come from that, some more terrifying than others and all affecting both partners. But despite this many men are not clued up on…
Hailing from two different cultures I have witnessed varying marriage and sex advice. Although unsure of the sex education men are given (I can presume it is not very extensive judging from conversations I’ve had with some of them) I can speak to that of African women. We have long been “schooled” in the art…