Azeenarh Mohammed is a trained lawyer and a queer, feminist, holistic security trainer who spends her time training non-for-profit organisations on tools and tactics for digital and physical security and psycho-social well-being. Azeenarh is active in the queer women's issues in Nigeria and has written on queerness and technology for publications like This is Africa, Perspectives, and Premium TimesNG.Chitra Nagarajan is an activist, researcher and writer. She has spent the last 15 years working on human rights and peace building and is involved in feminist, anti-racist, anti-fundamentalist and queer movements. She currently lives and works in Maiduguri, Nigeria, focusing on conflict mitigation, civilian protection and women's rights.Rafeeat Aliyu has a BA in Marketing and works in communication and research. She is particularly interested in sex and sexuality in both modern and historical Nigeria.

A brave and ground-breaking anthology of queer women's life stories

Introduction 1I Pray That Everyone Has Forgotten 18She Called Me 'Woman' 24Love Is Not Wrong 39I Only Admire Girls 49I Am A Proud Lesbian 57We Have Social Media Now. We Have Exposure 65Focusing On Joy 79My Sexuality Is Just The Icing On The Cake 91This Is Not Our World 102The Happiest Moments Of My Life Are Yet To Come 120Living A Double Life 125Doing Things My Own Way 139I Want To Be Myself Around People I Care About 147What Is Happiness? 164To Anyone Being Hated, Be Strong 172My Past Lovers Have Made Me Who I Am 188Some Things You Do For Your Heart 192Your Sexuality Doesn't Define Who You Are 203Who I Have Sex With Is Not Part Of My Identity 215If You Want Lesbian, Go To Room 24 220Everybody In J-Town Is Now A Lola 239Same-Sex Relationships Are A Choice 250This Same-Sex Thing Stays A Long Time 261When I Die, I Just Want To Be Remembered 265There Is No One Way To Be A Woman 275A Woman Who Loves Other Women 283I Don't Believe In Love 292I Can Still Love More 304Why Do I Have To Ask You To Consider Me Human? 312I Convinced Myself I Wasn't A Lesbian 329Biographies 341Acknowledgements 342

"We put together this collection of twenty-five narratives to correct the invisibility, the confusion, the caricaturising and the writing out of queer women from history."This stirring and intimate collection brings together 25 captivating narratives to paint a vivid portrait of what it means to be a queer Nigerian woman. Covering an array of experiences - the joy and excitement of first love, the agony of lost love and betrayal, the sometimes-fraught relationship between sexuality and spirituality, addiction and suicide, childhood games and laughter - She Called Me Woman sheds light on how Nigerian queer women, despite their differences, attempt to build a life together in a climate of fear.Through first-hand accounts, She Called Me Woman challenges us to rethink what it means to be a Nigerian 'woman', negotiating relationships, money, sexuality and freedom, identifying outside the gender binary, and the difficulties of achieving hopes and dreams under the constraints of societal expectations and legal terrorism.These beautifully told stories of resistance and resilience reveal the realities of a community that refuses to be invisible any longer.