In a country where homophobia is still deeply enshrined in law, gay adult actors are finding ways to navigate the risks of their work

Text Vincent Desmond

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. “It’s the same routine daily, going to work and heading back,” he says. At the weekends, he focuses on his side hustle: making amateur sex videos. 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. 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. 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. “I got on Twitter and saw a lot of people making videos. I like being seen, so I decided to join the bandwagon,” he explains. “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.” 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. 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. In the “poverty capital of the world”, that is a lot. “I don’t make as much as most people think I do,” Shaun says pointedly before continuing, “I make just enough. About the same amount I make from my regular job.”

Photography Chuchu Ojekwe

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. Nigerian society is highly conservative and topics like sex, sex work, and porn are considered taboo. The punishment for being caught making these videos isn’t just the 14 years imprisonment, you’ll also be ostracised from society. However, this doesn’t stop these amateur porn stars. It just makes it harder for them to do their jobs. “Acting in gay porn is hard for queer guys in Nigeria because it is not legalised,” Chrissy*, an amateur porn star, says. 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. 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. “The punishment for being caught making porn videos isn’t just 14 years imprisonment, you’ll also be ostracised from society. This doesn’t stop amateur Nigerian porn stars. It just makes it harder for them to do their jobs” Hotels are risky because the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act infringes upon the right to privacy for queer people. In 2017, 57 men were arrested in a hotel in Nigeria for reportedly engaging in homosexual sex. Currently, 47 out of those 57 men – who have been in police custody on and off over the past year – are on trial. 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. If the realities of being queer in Nigeria are harsh, for the average queer person who is creating porn videos, they are even harsher. However, within the Nigerian queer community these porn stars aren’t just accepted but are also respected and admired. When asked about how he gets treated by members of the queer community, especially those who don’t make porn, Shaun says: “It actually doesn’t affect how they treat me. Most of the time, I get better treatment as a result of them realising who I am and what I do.” Justin*, who occasionally stars in porn videos, agrees, adding: “Some people are obviously judgy, but for the most part, a lot of queer people like it. They treat me nicer after they realise I’m the person in those videos they wank to – some even seem jealous!”

Photography Chuchu Ojekwe