Hello.
Hello. Is this on the radio?
Yes
My problem is I finish early even though I
still want sex.
You’re just the kind of person we want to
hear from.
Hello.
Rwanda has become a world leader when it comes
to promoting gender equality in politics,
education, and, for some, even sexual pleasure.
Ladies, if you haven’t already, stop right
there and get into your bedroom.
I'm a married woman with three children. I’m
a sexologist and I live here in Rwanda.
Hello Vestine.
Hello
I have a girlfriend and she can’t do kunyaza.
Bring her to us!
Kunyaza is an ancient and secretive sexual
practice originating from this tiny country.
It’s said to encourage female ejaculation
and orgasms, and although it’s not openly
discussed, it is well-known.
The technique involves a man rhythmically
and continuously striking the clitoris and
labia with his erect penis.
I don’t think people talk enough about female
pleasure.
In the past people were shy to talk about
it, but today talk about it in public no problem.
Do you know how to do kunyaza? Tell me how you do kunyaza so I know you’re not doing it the wrong way…
So you’ve just done kunyaza already?
Vestine presents a well-known
radio show in Rwanda about relationships,
marriage and sex.
Female pleasure. It's very important because
we all deserve to be happy.
Kunyaza
I believe anyone can can do that. Even white
people as well.
To a woman it's so enjoyable when the water
is coming out. you feel like you're in heaven.
You feel something that you never felt before.
In our culture marriage is all about that.
It's all about in bed.
Let’s read some text messages and we’ll
be back after the break.
Now we are travelling to the village, Nyakiname,
to find out how the villagers make love, if
they know how to prepare themselves, for making love if you know how to romance and all that.
That's what we are going to do.
Not all the Rwandan women are free to talk
about sex. But there's this group of women.
Most of them they lost their husbands after
the genocide 1994. Because they don't
have their husbands they are open.
So let’s talk about something - can every
woman make water?
Yes all women can make water if a man does
it right.
If I have sex with a man and he doesn’t
make me squirt, I would throw him under the bed.
But whilst kunyaza is associated with pleasing
women, it is often practiced alongside gukuna,
which is the controversial act of stretching
a woman’s labia.
Kunyaza and Gukuna can be practiced separately,
but are both linked to sexual pleasure.
In Rwanda, many girls are encouraged by their
elders to start pulling their labia as they
begin puberty, sometimes as young as 10 years old.
To have gukuna is extra pleasure for a man.
But to be honest, when a man is touching them
you feel so much pleasure, I swear.
Why do women do gukuna?
It’s and old Rwandan culture.
How do you know that you’ve finished pulling
your labia?
Can't you tell by their growth and from
their size?
People tell me that you measure them on the middle finger.
Historically, before people wore underwear,
labia elongation was practiced in Rwanda because
it was believed to prevent infection and increase
modesty by concealing the vagina.
Today women are told that elongating their
labia will prepare them for marriage, increasing
their partner’s sexual pleasure, as well
as their own.
Kigali-based gynaecologist Dr Magnifique disagrees...
I feel a bit nervous discussing about these things.
But yeah, my mother comes from a very
conservative cultural background.
And the good thing is that she doesn't understand
English. If she hears me talking about, it
would be like my son is gone.
Saying that labia elongation increases pleasure
from the scientific point,
I feel like pleasure would come more from
a hormonal change.
There are no scientific proven benefits for
labia elongation.
And the other thing is the reversibility - let’s
say you’ve done it when you're 10 and you
get to be twenty and you’re like I no longer
need this. If you want to reverse it, you
have to go through a surgical procedure.
Juliette Karitanyi is an activist, and she’s
worried about the impact gukuna has on young girls.
So among my generation, and my boyfriend doesn't
believe in gukuna because they feel like it's
an old practice.
For children, we shouldn't even discuss about
it. The reason why in our culture, they were
doing it at that early age it's because our
grandmothers used to get married at 12/14.
But now 14 years old need to be in school.
For me, it's violation of their innocence.
We are in another generation.
Juliette lives in Kigali, and is part of a
feminist group who discuss everything from
gender based violence and rape to labia elongation
and sexual pleasure.
Of course, you know, you meet some men who
are who who are very blunt about it.
So if you're going to tell me some stuff about
pulling or doing whatever, I'm going to ask
you some questions that will make you uncomfortable.
Right. Like, how well-endowed are you?
But in our society, a woman who elongated her
labia they consider you - now you’re
a full woman, you are wife material.
I don't really agree with people said on culture
saying, oh, this is our culture. Yes, our
culture is a huge thing. Actually.
But if something is harmful, if something
created inequality if something
hurt someone, I don't see why we cling to
it for the sake of culture.
But while some Rwandans are rejecting what
they see as harmful traditions, for others,
it’s not always easy to let go of cultural
practices that have existed for hundreds of years.
Vestine’s daughter, Princess, is getting
ready for her bridal shower.
It’s a day that first happens before you
get married where your aunties,
your grandma, your mum, your friends and sisters, give
you advice and give a gift to use when you are already married.
I’m a girl right now
but the day is coming where I’ll be a woman.
Before I started on radio, they were shy
to talk about sex, even though if the woman
did not enjoy sex, she could not be open and
tell her husband. Say, sweetheart, what you
are doing, I didn't enjoy it. She was so shy
because our culture teaches that a woman is supposed
to be quiet and respect your husband.
That's what I hate. That's why I keep teaching
people. A marriage is for two people. Pleasure.
I also have to enjoy it. This my life. This
my body.
As someone who appears to be an empowered
business woman, passionate about female sexual
pleasure, does Vestine agree that practices
like labia elongation can be harmful to girls
and women?
My mission. I want all the married couples
to be happy.
But It's a part of our culture. When you get
married, you have to do something, to please
your men.
I don't want our culture to oppress us.
But some culture you have to follow. What
else can you do?
