L’intervenante<\/strong><\/strong> : Francesca Mininel & Bakary Ciss\u00e9 du SESSTIM (Aix-Marseille Universit\u00e9 \u2013 Inserm \u2013 IRD)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Date: 19\/12\/2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12.30-13.30 Heure de Bruxelles<\/strong>)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Francesca Mininel will present her research on women\u2019s use of aphrodisiacs, vaginal tightening and drying products, and so-called \u201cdomination\u201d substances in Togo and Ghana. Initially focused on harmful intravaginal practices classified by the WHO as type IV FGM and associated with an increased risk of STIs and HIV, this research gradually expanded in the field to include all products aimed at enhancing desire, maintaining a partner\u2019s fidelity, or influencing their behavior. It is based on interviews conducted with young Togolese women, ethnographic observations in several urban markets, and extensive documentation of objects circulating locally, regionally, or originating from Asian trade. These products, sold by traditional healers or through discreet female networks mainly run by Kotokoli and Hausa traders, take multiple forms and are used through ingestion, application, or insertion. They are used to tighten or dry the vagina in order to increase male pleasure, compete among co-wives, simulate virginity, conform to hygiene norms that associate vaginal secretions with impurity, and exert control over a partner. Their packaging and modes of circulation reveal an imaginary combining \u201cspiritual\u201d references (Vodou, Muslim, Christian), promises of \u201cmodern\u201d success, and globalized female figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A complementary perspective will be provided by Bakary Ciss\u00e9, a Burkinab\u00e8 physician and a privileged witness of these practices. Interviewed as part of the research, he reports that these practices also generate significant male concern: many young men fear being \u201cbewitched\u201d or manipulated by these products, which are perceived as capable of altering their will or emotionally \u201cbinding\u201d them. This situated perspective highlights that these substances, far from being solely female tools of seduction or marital negotiation, also belong to a field of tensions in which fears, imaginaries of power, and male vulnerabilities circulate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Francesca Mininel<\/strong> est chercheuse en socio-anthropologie \u00e0 l\u2019Institut Paoli-Calmettes (Centre de lutte contre le cancer de Marseille), membre du laboratoire SESSTIM (Sciences \u00c9conomiques et Sociales de la Sant\u00e9 & Traitement de l\u2019Information M\u00e9dicale \u2013 Aix-Marseille Universit\u00e9 \u2013 IRD \u2013 Inserm) et membre de l\u2019Institut des Sciences de la Sant\u00e9 Publique (ISSPAM \u2013 Aix-Marseille Universit\u00e9). Elle a r\u00e9alis\u00e9 sa th\u00e8se en anthropologie dans le cadre de la pr\u00e9vention du VIH au Togo, une recherche portant sur l\u2019entr\u00e9e dans la sexualit\u00e9 des jeunes filles togolaises, encadr\u00e9e par l\u2019IRD (TransVIHMI \u2013 Recherche translationnelle sur VIH et les Maladies Infectieuses end\u00e9miques et \u00e9mergentes) et par Aix-Marseille Universit\u00e9 (IDEMEC \u2013 Institut D\u2019Ethnologie M\u00e9diterran\u00e9enne Europ\u00e9enne et Comparative). Une partie de son premier post-doctorat au LPED, a \u00e9t\u00e9 consacr\u00e9e \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9tude de la circulation transnationale des produits vaginaux en Afrique de l\u2019Ouest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bakary Ciss\u00e9<\/strong> is a physician and PhD candidate in public health within the SESSTIM laboratory (Aix-Marseille University \u2013 Inserm \u2013 IRD). His work focuses on health literacy and hepatitis B prevention in France and Burkina Faso, at the intersection of epidemiology, data analysis, and health systems research. Trained in medicine, biostatistics, and international health, he previously worked at the Centre Muraz (Burkina Faso). His approach aims to better understand inequalities in prevention and to contribute to public health practices adapted to local contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n