While this case will be making history as the first of its kind to make its way to the court, it isn’t the first time that suspected queer Nigerians have been arrested at hotels over suspicion of engaging in homosexual sex, sometimes with the hotel staff calling the police. Currently, 47 out of those 57 men – who have been in police custody on and off over the past year – are on trial. In 2017, 57 men were arrested in a hotel in Nigeria for reportedly engaging in homosexual sex. Hotels are risky because the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act infringes upon the right to privacy for queer people. It just makes it harder for them to do their jobs” This doesn’t stop amateur Nigerian porn stars. “The punishment for being caught making porn videos isn’t just 14 years imprisonment, you’ll also be ostracised from society. Information such as where you live and where you work and occasionally even your government names are too sensitive to be shared with other performers as you stand to lose a lot if they, for some reason, decide to be vindictive and use that information against you. Chrissy explains the problem of getting a location – you can’t film in your house because you can’t even trust your address with the partner you’re filming with. “Acting in gay porn is hard for queer guys in Nigeria because it is not legalised,” Chrissy*, an amateur porn star, says.
It just makes it harder for them to do their jobs. However, this doesn’t stop these amateur porn stars. The punishment for being caught making these videos isn’t just the 14 years imprisonment, you’ll also be ostracised from society. Nigerian society is highly conservative and topics like sex, sex work, and porn are considered taboo. Nigeria’s Same Sex marriage (Prohibition) Act, signed by President Jonathan Goodluck in January 2014, punishes sex between men with up to fourteen years’ imprisonment and, for married individuals, death by stoning in up to 12 Northern states in Nigeria that have adopted Sharia Law. About the same amount I make from my regular job.” “I don’t make as much as most people think I do,” Shaun says pointedly before continuing, “I make just enough. In the “ poverty capital of the world”, that is a lot.
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How much a performer makes depends on how large their audience is, while some do it for free as a hobby of sorts or are still making plans to monetise it, other performers make about 150,000 to 200,000 Naira per month, which is about £315 to £425. Shaun is one of the most popular amateur porn stars in Nigeria – his Twitter page where he uploads previews of his sex videos has more than 31,000 followers – and despite the legislation in Nigeria which explicitly bans sex between two men, people like Shaun are making a living from creating sex videos and uploading them to porn sites on the internet. “At first, I did the videos because I wanted attention and more followers but then, after a while, I figured I could make some money out of it, so here I am now.” I like being seen, so I decided to join the bandwagon,” he explains.
“I got on Twitter and saw a lot of people making videos. He’s quick to point out that he is far from the first person to start making amateur porn in Nigeria he was inspired by those who came before him. These videos, with their poor sound and basic editing, typically garner thousands of views within an hour of being uploaded and are loved by a relatively small but engaged audience within the Nigerian queer community. His weekends typically involve locating a hotel that doesn’t have CCTV cameras, contacting potential partners, recording sex videos on his phone and then editing them before uploading them online. “It’s the same routine daily, going to work and heading back,” he says.Īt the weekends, he focuses on his side hustle: making amateur sex videos. On most mornings, you’ll find Shaun* sat in his car stuck in heavy Lagos traffic trying to make his way to his day job at an HR consultancy firm.