The women of Togo want to oust the president and they’re staging a very unique protest to make it happen. Female members of the civil rights group “Let’s Save Togo” plan to hold a sex strike starting today in the hopes that president Faure Gnassingbe would resign, according to a report by the Associate Press.
Isabelle Ameganvi, leader of the women’s section of “Let’s Save Togo,” hopes this strike will make the men of Togo spring to action. “We have many means to oblige men to understand what women want in Togo,” Ameganvi said.
The strike was announced at a rally over the weekend in Lome, the capital of Togo. The group organized the rally in protest of recent electoral reforms they believe will make it easy for Gnassingbe to get re-elected. This rally was the third one in a month, with two happening in early August. Luckily, this one ended peacefully, where the other two were dispersed by police and tear gas.
Unsurprisingly, the strike has attracted plenty of attention and mixed opinions. For Abla Tamekloe, this strike is no different from a spiritual fast. “It’s a good thing for us women to observe this sex strike as long as our children are in jail now. I believe that by observing this, we will get them released,”Tamekloe said. “For me, it’s like fasting, and unless you fas
t, you will not get what you want from God.”
Tamekloe admits it might be hard for her husband. “It is easy for me to observe it. I am used to it, but I am not sure my husband will accept, but I have to explain to him.”
Like Tamekloe, other women have concerns about how long the strike will last for them, if it will last at all. “I do agree that we women have to observe this sex strike but I know my husband will not let me complete it. He may agree at first, but as far as I know him, he will change overnight,” Judith Agbetoglo said. “So I don’t believe I can do the one-week sex strike. Otherwise, I will have serious issues with him. He likes that too much.”
Other women think Ameganvi, a single woman, has no right to ask this of married women. “It is easy for her to say because she is not married herself. She does not live with a man at home,” said Ekoue Blame, a journalist. “Does she think women who live with their husband will be able to observe that? By the way, who controls what couples do behind closed doors?”
