Quote:
Originally Posted by Klondike
this is a really cool pic. Wish I knew more about it. Klondike
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If you are interested in modern urban nudity in Africa, you should definitely look for pictures taken in Cameroon, especially in Douala (largest city in Cameroon, about 2 million inhabitants).
I've been there several times, and I've already seen many fully naked people in the street there. There are several typical causes to that :
- homeless people, many of them being mentally ill (no psychiatric hospitals in Cameroon, so unless they are dangerous enough to be put in jail, most crazy people end up in the streets). Some of them have the habit to wander in the streets naked all the day (which leads to a strong connection of nudity with mental illness in people's minds in Cameroon). Other will simply strip naked in the street to wash up in some water they can found in holes on the pavement, or sometimes at public water points
- taking a shower outside is also quite popular in slums (but I strongly advise you NOT to go there, unless you have someone who lives there to guide you...), where most people do not have any place to shower inside their homes. Most of them will cover up a bit to do that, but during the warmest nights, it is not uncommon to see some people just go out naked to take a quick cold shower before going back to sleep
- there has also been a trend in several Cameroonian cities, especially in Douala, with ordinary women that have been tricked into getting to a particularly busy part of the city, some market for example, then to strip naked and walk among the crowd (trying not to be lynched of course...). I couldn't find any recording of such an event, but there have been many written accounts of such events (see the links below). Many people believe these women have been tricked by sects or maybe self-declared wizards, who have promised them that they will become very rich, but that they needed to go through some extreme stunts to test their resistance and/or to appeal to some spirits. Another more recent trend is also to get women (and also men) to look for such mentally ill people who live in the street, as I mentioned before, and to have sex with them on the street in front of the crowed. There may be some traditional mystic practices that these people are believing in, that tell them it will cure some illness (infertility for example...)
- I have also heard of many cases where the army has forced people to strip in the street, then destroyed their clothes and left there naked as a punishment. They say that they did this because these people were wearing camouflage pants or skirts, which could have been mistaken for military uniforms (and are quite fashionable in Cameroon)
- Then of course, there is prostitution... Douala has always been known as a major city for prostitution, with both women coming from all the country (and from the neighboring countries too) for that, and also with women who have regular jobs (often selling things on the markets), that may occasionally turn to prostitution when they need too much money. The sad thing, is that these last years, Douala is becoming a major destination for people looking for child prostitution, in some places the mean age of the prostitutes in the street is as low as 15 - which mean that many of them are as young as 12... - and this situation won't probably change in the next years since Cameroon seems much more concerned by gay prostitution than by pedophilia... (homosexuality is a crime in Cameroon, having sex with another guy may send you in jail for 10 or maybe 20 years there, it has just happened to an Australian guy a few weeks ago). Anyway, during the nights, almost everywhere in the city you will see groups of prostitutes, most of them wearing almost nothing (remember that Douala is the hottest city in Cameroon, also regarding the weather
).
http://www.cameroon-info.net/stories...a-la-mode.html
http://www.cameroun-online.com/actualite,actu-1572.html
http://www.cameroun-online.com/actualite,actu-3063.html
I personally didn't have any occasion to photography such situations when I've been in Cameroon, due to the fact that I was always with my family, but I have witnessed scores of naked people in the streets of Douala in only a few days. But I'm definitely keeping an eye on what may leak on the internet from people who are living there.
EDIT : Of course, there is already this other thread "modern blacks from Africa" for that :
https://forum.oneclickchicks.com/showthread.php?t=38151
This message would probably be better off there, rather than in this current thread about tribal nudity.