Bachah-bāzī: A Socio-Erotic Tradition

This article looks into the tradition of bachah-bāzī, namely, showing interest for or having liaison with beardless young males, and contextualizes it within Afghan society and culture (and beyond). Complicating some widely held accounts of bachah-bāzī, the article suggests that the “unavailability of females” alone cannot adequately account for the persistence of the tradition in Afghanistan, and that bachahs (beardless young males) are not necessarily “underage boys” but have historically been perceived as distinct gender figures in addition to women and men. More broadly, the article reveals that studying the practice of bachah-bāzī will open up discussions on a range of related subjects, from male friendships and power play among men to gender and family relations and the construction of male desire and (homo)sexuality in Afghanistan. Studying bachah-bāzī may also lead to conversations about the aesthetics of male dance-forms, regional folk songs, music and musical creativity, Sufism and (homoerotic) poetry, histories of war and militarism, and state-building and development and reconstruction projects.