Mubobobo: Women have no Sexual Fantasies in their Sleep

Mubobobo is a belief among traditional Shona people of Zimbabwe that women cannot have nocturnal emission in their sleep. This study explored traditional Shona women` s experiences of mubobobo from an ethnopsychological perspective. Participants were three men who were alleged to be the perpetrators of mubobobo and three women who claimed to be the victims of mubobobo. The men and women in this study were not related or involved in litigation relating to mubobobo. In fact, the presented cases in this study were isolated individual experiences of mubobobo. In-depth interviews were held to assess the views of participants who were embroiled in the mubobobo controversy as perpetrators and victims. A thematic content analysis of the narratives of the participants was done to establish the reasonableness of participants` convictions about mubobobo in the context of human sexuality. The findings of the study revealed that traditional Shona women experienced nocturnal emission like any other women in the world but due to cultural constraints they could not believe the excitation of their reproductive system in their sleep as real and a normal biological process. Furthermore, research on the sexuality of traditional Shona women could have a special focus on women empowerment in the context of sexual and reproductive health education.