Born Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju in 1992, Bobrisky completed its secondary school education at King's College, Lagos. She also attended and graduated from the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

Bobrisky is a Nigerian internet personality who is known as a trans woman in Nigeria, a country with no LGBT rights. She is also known for her presence on the social media app Snapchat. Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju aka Bobrisky.

In May 2019, Bobrisky confirmed that her pronouns are "she" and "her" after receiving several mix-gendered comments on her Instagram profile.

She became recognized by being highly controversial on social media for the ultra-conservative Nigerian standards. Bobrisky was able to gather traffic to her Snapchat account when she claimed she had a lover who is assumed to be of masculine gender despite the law in Nigeria stating that same-sex relationships is an offense punishable by serving 14 years in a penitentiary.

Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google's Communications and Public Affairs Manager for West Africa, said Bobrisky was the most searched individual in Nigeria from October 26 to November 2016.




The parallel between Bobrisky’s contradictory life to Nigeria’s bundle of inconsistencies and two facades is striking. Nigerian society is riddled with blatant illogicalities. For instance, Nigeria enacted the law that sends homosexuals to jail for 14 years, yet Nigerians are one of the highest consumers of homosexual porn according to Gay Star News.[2] Nigerians are some of the most religious people in the world, but their diabolic politicians buy salvation through tithing from equally predatory pastors. Nigeria is one of the richest countries in Africa, yet more than 40 percent of its population live in dismal poverty – the so-called giant of Africa, yet nearly half of its population is unemployed. So, yes, Bobrisky plies the kind of wares they buy: she is hypocritical with a creative twist. Still, Bobrisky, perhaps unintentionally, continues to revolutionize the Nigerian concept of queerness and chips away at the concrete slab of gender normativity in Nigeria.

As indicated in Bobrisky’s interview with Adesuwa Onyenokwe,[3] at the age of 16 she caused a pandemonium the day she walked through the streets of Lagos in flamboyant female attire. This was on a dare, both for financial reward and for the sheer fantasy of displaying her private fascination with femininity in the public space. That legendary outing, for which she was arrested, reinforced her reputation for contradictions. She went to the police cell unashamed of her identity. In taking that walk, she both presented herself as an individual sensitive to the Nigerian culture of paradoxes and hypocrisy and constructed for herself a persuasive identity as a trans woman by acting out her feelings in public. Similarly, on another occasion, she talked about being pregnant and relished the joys of hopeful motherhood.

Conclusion

Many may find Bobrisky’s inclination to flaunt her wealth and social connection in the public domain offensive. I admit the fact of her extravagant life, but it is not surprising given her peculiar situation as a queer person who lives in a capitalist society that regards wealth as a symbol of accomplishment and a criterion for acceptance and inclusion into society’s fraternity of human beings. It is not unexpected that Bobrisky leverages her financial success and social status to blind society’s homophobic gaze and to pave way for herself and for queer people in Nigeria.

It is difficult to speak about Bobrisky without oversimplifying a complex phenomenon. It is even more difficult to attempt to offer a comprehensive analysis of her life since her reign as the Nigerian queer icon is just beginning. It seems to me, however, that to escape the possibility of misrepresenting her, one ought to accept the peril of speaking so little about a character who has said so much about her private life in the public domain. Bobrisky comes alive in the consequences of the contentions between the conservative elements of patriarchal Nigerian culture and the liberating forces of modernity and in the unification of these conflicting components into a risky whole. Indeed she acts as a mirror through which Nigerians can see themselves: a life of contradiction, brazen display of wealth, and the worship of money. Yet, she is a queer messiah who will call forth disciples of queerness.

References
(1) https://www.justicediary.com/2021/06/bobrisky-okuneye-idris-olarenwaju.html#more
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobrisky
(3) https://africanarguments.org/2021/05/bobrisky-a-mirror-for-nigeria/