Heteronormativity, homophobia and ‘culture’ arguments in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Reygan, Finn; Lynette, Ashley

doi:10.1177/1363460714531267

Cited by 26 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Within this space they feel comfortable using their bodies as vehicles to display their identity and express their thoughts and feelings without fear of being ridiculed or excluded. Beyond this physical space, however, the embodiment of homosexuality and not being able to pass as heterosexual is perceived as evoking risk (Reygan and Lynette 2014).…”

Section: Invisible Risky Bodies: Male Sex Workers' Experiences Of Viomentioning

confidence: 99%

Male sex workers’ (in)visible risky bodies in international health development: now you see them, now you don’t

Woensdregt

Nencel

2020

Culture, Health & Sexuality

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International health development discourse constructs and regulates male sex workers as risky bodies in need of interventions for HIV. Drawing on ethnographic research among male sex workers and interviews with development sector actors in Nairobi, Kenya, this paper shows how the identification of male sex workers as a high-risk group for HIV offers a singular conceptualisation of their bodies as risky and renders invisible broader everyday struggles for security and wellbeing. Within these everyday struggles, male sex workers experience bodily risk as they are exposed not only to HIV, but also to being outed or outing themselves as gay. Interview findings show that development actors recognise and are empathic to male sex workers' security risks but have limited opportunity to address these due to restrictive donor regimes. To contribute to enduring change and develop appropriate and effective programmes, it is important for donors to continue funding HIV activities in relation to male sex work, while broadening their understandings of risk.

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Section: Invisible Risky Bodies: Male Sex Workers' Experiences Of Viomentioning

confidence: 99%

Male sex workers’ (in)visible risky bodies in international health development: now you see them, now you don’t

Woensdregt

Nencel

2020

Culture, Health & Sexuality

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“…Similar to other countries beyond this ‘western’ picture, such as South Africa, Taiwan has the potential for being a valuable sociological case and for expanding intellectual dialogue on gender and sexuality (see, e.g. Ratele, 2016; Reygan and Lynette, 2014; Scott and Theron, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing heteronormativity: Gendered familial appellations as an issue in the same-sex marriage debate in Taiwan

Chin¹

2019

Sexualities

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On 24 May 2017, a historical landmark for the LGBT movement was achieved in Taiwan. The courts delivered Interpretation no. 748, which declares that the legal regulation in the Civil Code disallowing two individuals of the same sex to marry is unconstitutional and that the law should therefore be amended within two years. While the legal arguments at the constitutional level seem settled, discussions regarding sexuality, family and tradition triggered by the debate about same-sex marriage are continuing. Drawing on feminist and queer scholarship, I advocate turning the spotlight from the ‘subversive’ homosexual to ‘normative’ heterosexuality. In addition, through the theoretical lens of interactionism on sexuality, this study investigates a quotidian but controversial topic emerging in the debate: gendered familial appellations. Using transcripts of public hearings as research data, I discuss how the practice of employing gendered familial appellations based on the idea of the heterosexual family becomes an issue in the debate. Through an analysis of the matter, I argue that the heteronormative social order embedded in everyday interactions within the context of Taiwan society is revealed. This heteronormativity is not only gendered and hierarchically heterosexual but also ethnocentric in nature.

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“…Post-colonial amnesia can be seen in the omnipresent non-recognition of queer identity as a legitimate axis of human difference (Bajaha, 2015). It manifests through a constant (re)construction of queer identity as a “foreign” western import, a lifestyle choice, biologically unnatural, religiously demonic, culturally un-African, and a medical or psychopathological phenomenon (Msibi, 2012; Reygan and Lynette, 2014; Engh and Potgieter, 2015; McEwen, 2016; Owen, 2016). These constructions produce a social reality in which queer existence triggers anxiety, discomfort, anger and violence (Reygan and Lynette, 2014; Engh and Potgieter, 2015) and give impetus to eugenic convictions that queer bodies deserve prevention, cure and or extermination (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It manifests through a constant (re)construction of queer identity as a “foreign” western import, a lifestyle choice, biologically unnatural, religiously demonic, culturally un-African, and a medical or psychopathological phenomenon (Msibi, 2012; Reygan and Lynette, 2014; Engh and Potgieter, 2015; McEwen, 2016; Owen, 2016). These constructions produce a social reality in which queer existence triggers anxiety, discomfort, anger and violence (Reygan and Lynette, 2014; Engh and Potgieter, 2015) and give impetus to eugenic convictions that queer bodies deserve prevention, cure and or extermination (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2015). Young (2014) posits that these oppressive discourses are not always imposed by cruel autocrats, but by a well-intentioned liberal society and organisations that may be acclaimed as diversity competent, through the ongoing formation of system-wide constraints, unquestioned norms, habits, symbols and daily language that restrains and diminishes the potential of (queer) others to be fully human (Reygan and Lynette, 2014; Engh and Potgieter, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The deadly elasticity of heteronormative assumptions in South African organisations

Ndzwayiba

Steyn

2019

IJSE

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse the discourses of gender empowerment in South African organisations to determine the extent to which they reify or resist the entrenched oppressive gender binaries. Design/methodology/approach Multiple case studies design and critical discourse analysis were employed to collect and analyse the data. Research entailed critical analysis of 36 published documents containing information on gender and gender empowerment. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with six transformation managers as change agents who are tasked with the responsibility of driving gender empowerment in the selected organisations. Findings The authors found that gender in studied organisations was insularly defined within the confines of the male–female gender binaries. Consequently, designed gender empowerment strategies and ensuing initiatives mainly focussed on promoting the inclusion of heterosexual women in and on protecting these women from heterosexual men. Thus, gender empowerment systematised heteropatriachy in organisational culture and processes while invisibilising and annihilating the possibility of existence of alternative genders outside these naturalised binaries. Transformation managers, as change agents, fell short of acknowledging, challenging and changing these entrenched ideologies of patriotic heterosexuality. Research limitations/implications The paper uses Galting’s (1960) and Paul Farmer’s (2009) concept of structural violence and Rich’s (1980) notion of “deadly elasticity of heterosexual assumptions”, to theorise these gender empowerment discourses as constituting and perpetuating violence against queer bodies and subjectivities. Practical implications The paper recommends that corporates need to broaden their conceptions of gender and to design and entrench gender discourses that promote gender justice and equality. Social implications This inquiry proves Joan Acker’s (2006) and Baker’s (2012) views that inequality and injustice are produced and entrenched in a reciprocal relationship between society and the workplace. Originality/value This paper focusses on constructions of gender in organisations. By doing so, it links the observed violence against women and gender binary non-conforming people in society with organisational discourses of gender that perpetuate such violence instead of challenging and changing it so that democracy can be realised for all.

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Heteronormativity, homophobia and ‘culture’ arguments in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Cited by 26 publications

References 18 publications

Male sex workers’ (in)visible risky bodies in international health development: now you see them, now you don’t

Male sex workers’ (in)visible risky bodies in international health development: now you see them, now you don’t

Addressing heteronormativity: Gendered familial appellations as an issue in the same-sex marriage debate in Taiwan

The deadly elasticity of heteronormative assumptions in South African organisations

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