Sex, Food and Female Power: Discussion of Data Material from Northern Mozambique

Abstract

Issues of sex and food are often inscribed in male/female relationships. Frequently in a western context sex is perceived as a site of male power and female subordination, while food and cooking are seen as female domains, but still sites of subordination, as elements of women's household chores. In this article, looking at issues of sex and food in a rural matrilineal setting, power aspects of male/female relationships as mediated through sex and food emerge somewhat differently. Sexual proficiency is here a woman's art, mastered by old women and transmitted to the young. Also, in a setting where daily life is largely based on subsistence production, food and cooking become domains of power, again with old women in control. Based on fieldwork in northern Mozambique and with reference to African feminist conceptualizations of male/female power relationships, the article makes a case for rurality and ‘tradition’ not necessarily being adverse to female power in social relationships.

Exchange of sex for resources: HIV risk and gender norms in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique

“…Tension arises since it is men who usually control the sexual encounter (O'Sullivan et al 2006;Ehrhardt et al 2009), though this is not always the case given the matrilineal structure in this setting, where sexual expertise may sometimes rest with older women and passed to younger generations (Arnfred 2007). Some women who exchange sex for resources do so to escape norms linked to passivity and dependence often manifested in marriage and thus confront widely accepted female roles.…”

Ethnocentrism and Sexism: How Stereotypes Legitimize Six Types of Power

“…Women's control of resources can help rebalance gender inequality. For example, in some matrilineal societies, women own the land and have greater power within families as a result (Arnfred, 2007;Hamamsy, 1957). Women's suffrage passed first in the western states (of the United States) where land ownership had been opened to women to increase migration (Matsuda, 1985).…”

“…Women's suffrage passed first in the western states (of the United States) where land ownership had been opened to women to increase migration (Matsuda, 1985). In societies where women control food, an essential resource, women have more power than in societies in which women have no special domain of resource control (Arnfred, 2007;Brown, 1970). However, in societies with surplus wealth, control over food is not as critical for maintaining power, so gender inequality and ethnic inequality increase (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999, Ch.…”

Health discourse, sexual slang and ideological contradictions among Mozambican youth: implications for method

“…A great number of customs and rituals, some with explicit erotic elements, were either banned or barely tolerated by the official Mozambique, whether represented by the Portuguese colonialists, the FRELIMO government or the Catholic church. They included the use of mobumba/feitiço (witchcraft), curandeirismo (healing) and customs such as lobolo (bride wealth) among the Tsonga, Ronga and Machangana in Southern Mozambique (Sumich 2008); and ithuna (ritual labia elongation) and missangas (glass bead belts) worn by women for erotic purposes among the Makhuwa in Northern Mozambique (Arnfred 2007). In secondary schools in Maputo young people are taught that such traditions belong to the past and that people who speak only native languages are ignorant, uneducated and intellectually 662…”