Conceptualising Children as Sexual Beings: Pre-Colonial Sexuality Education among the Gikuyu of Kenya

Based on oral history accounts elicited from 25 Gikuyu elders in Kenya, this paper describes a non-penetrative sexual practice, ngweko, permitted for the sake of pleasure and sexual release among circumcised and unmarried young people in the Gikuyu community. Lessons that can be learned from the pre-colonial Gikuyu sexuality culture are identified, and possible implications for contemporary sexuality education explored.