Women of the 'red thigh'

By Anthony Ngatia

In Elechi Amadi's novel, The Concubine, there is a beautiful woman called Ihuoma. Outwardly, she seems the ideal bride.However, she seems dogged by a curse. Every man who marries her and consummates the marriage dies mysteriously. The villagers, shaken by this scary trend, decide to call in a traditional priest to explain the phenomenon.

“Listen,” he begins, “Ihuoma belongs to the sea. When she was in the spirit world, she was a wife of the sea-king, the ruling spirit of the sea. Against the advice of her husband, she sought the company of human beings and was incarnated.

Schoolteacher Peter Maina says, “These women are beautiful but cause death to their husbands, hence they are dangerous.”

Myths and fact

Other people have a more complex view of the phenomenon.

Kingori Gikaria, a literature graduate, does not dispute about the existence of such women but he has reservations.

“It has to do with how we have been socialised that we explain mysteries through myths. In our communities, we sometimes confuse myths with fact.”

Femme fatales, he says, could be the victims of male chauvinism that portrays women as evil.

Jackson Imathiu, a student at Egerton University says that although he has heard the rumour of a femme fatale within campus, he is yet to actually interact with one.

Good time

“Within campus, there is one girl who is rumoured to have the red thigh. I know her although we have never spoken. So I don’t know how true the rumour is.”

Justin Kirugumi, from Nyeri, has an interesting explanation for women of the red thigh. He claims to know one at his village, Gakindu.

He explains what a red thigh means as understood in his village. “These women are beautiful but do not give birth as they are barren. What happens is that on account of their beauty, lustful men go to them. “But the tragedy is that as they are having a good time, one develops a strange bodily complications and from there they start being dogged by strange ailments until they die.”

In ancient societies, the femme fatales are depicted as sexual vampires whose charms leach the virility and independence of lovers.

In some African communities, an evil spirit often from the sea, is portrayed as a beautiful but evil woman.

According to Mzee Wachiori, an elderly man based at Nyahururu, women of the red thigh were indeed there even in the old days. But contrary to what people think that their thighs are red, they in fact are normal females.

“What is termed red is a birthmark somewhere inside the private parts and it was only the circumcisers who knew about it and then afterwards they would warn young men against flirting with the girl,” he says.

Pastor Mwangi Mathuka of the African Independent Pentecostal Church of East Africa sums up the issue thus: “Although I have heard about these women and even from callers to vernacular radio stations, biblically I am yet to encounter such a woman.”

“I think those women who are seen as if they are different from the others are labelled as such,” he says.