Lesotho has an assertively heteronormative and “macho” culture. Indeed, Basotho men have long possessed a reputation in southern Africa for being among the fiercest gangsters, toughest workers, and most incorrigible womanizers of all the African peoples of the region. In 1907 an official enquiry into “unnatural vice” at the South African mines exonerated the Basotho of homosexual behavior. Yet by 1941 another report found that the Basotho were not only enthusiastically participating in inkotshane (male-male sexual relationships) but also public cross-dressing and same-sex marriage ceremonies. Given that Lesotho was almost entirely lacking in industrial development and any significant white or Asian immigration and tourism during the colonial era, it makes an interesting test case regarding the “spreadability” of modern homosexual relations in African societies. This article examines the changes to Basotho male sexuality that took place in relation to the migrant labor system. It assesses whether, and why, male-male sexual relations were as “contagious” as some people today fear.
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