Homosexuals in Algeria who have grown up with social media no longer feel like outcasts. Algerians know homosexuality exists, but tend to avoid the subject and feel gay people should keep to themselves. Algerian society is strongly heteronormative: every institution β family, school, religion, the law β teaches children that they must conform, and marriage and procreation are seen as the key achievements of adult life.
Homosexuality, when mentioned at all, is presented as an illness that requires treatment by a psychiatrist, or the intervention of an imam.
Until the s, Algerians rarely mentioned homosexuality, especially in the presence of adolescents. Most gay men I interviewed said they had felt alone during their teens. They thought they were freaks when they first experienced desire for a man, or after their first sexual encounter. Slimane, 35, from Mostaganem in northwestern Algeria, lives in Algiers, where he works as a lawyer. He and his partner plan to move to Spain. At first β when I had my first sexual encounters β I always took the passive role, so there again I was different: I saw my partners as normal, in a sense, so even that made me feel different.
We hid ourselves away to do it, so it must be taboo. What words can North African men use to talk about their attraction to other men? When the only words teens have to describe themselves are pejorative, they can find it hard to understand who they are. Sexual behaviour is closely linked to ascribed gender. The hierarchy of the sexes and the dominance of men influence even homoerotic relationships;many men present themselves as active topreserve their dignity,and assert their virility by rejecting anything that might be perceived as feminine.
Yet in private the roles are often inverted. In the street, men often pull without exchanging any words, sometimes just with a glance, so roles are determined according to appearance, but online dating seems to allow people to be more direct, freer, and more precise in their use of language because they are not talking face-to-face.
