Sexuality and the limits of agency among South African teenage women: Theorising femininities and their connections to HIV risk practises

Abstract

In South Africa, both HIV and gender-based violence are highly prevalent. Gender inequalities give men considerable relational power over young women, particularly in circumstances of poverty and where sex is materially rewarded. Young women are often described as victims of men, but this inadequately explains women’s observed sexual agency. This paper takes a different approach. We use qualitative interviews and ethnographic observation among 16 young women from the rural Eastern Cape to explore ways young women construct their femininities and exercise agency. The data were collected as part of an evaluation of Stepping Stones, which is a participatory behavioural intervention for HIV prevention that seeks to be gender transformative. Agency was most notable in particular stages of the dating ‘game’, especially relationship initiation. Constructions of desirable men differed but generally reflected a wish to avoid violence, and a search for mutual respect, sexual pleasure, romance, modernity, status and money. Agency was constrained once relationships were consented to, as men expected to control their partners, using violent and non-violent methods. Women knew this and many accepted this treatment, although often expressing ambivalence. Many of the women expressed highly acquiescent femininities, with power surrendered to men, as a ‘choice’ that made their lives in cultural terms more meaningful. In marked contrast to this was a ‘modern’ femininity, centred around a desire to be ‘free’. A visible third position, notably emerging after the Stepping Stones intervention, rested not on a feminist challenge to patriarchy, but on an accommodation with men’s power whilst seeking to negotiate greater respect and non-violence within relations with men. These multiple and dynamic femininities open up possibilities for change. They demonstrate the need to engage with women, both as victims of patriarchy and active supporters of the gender order. The multiplicity of women’s hopes and desires and circumstances of emotional and relational fulfilment provides potential for interventions with women that acknowledge existing gender inequalities, validate women’s agency, reduce violence and prevent HIV.

Constructing respectability from disfavoured social positions: exploring young femininities and health as shaped by marginalisation and social context. A qualitative study in Northern Sweden

“…In analysing constructions of femininities and health, addressing variations within the group of women is of central importance because femininity positions in various social contexts are plural, dynamic, diversified, and informed by both individual agency and collective patterns [8–13]. As background, Jewkes and Morell [8] state that health literature, epidemiology, and qualitative research have tended ‘to treat women as a homogeneous group and as victims of (all) men’ and deployed the categories woman or female ‘in a blunt and uncritical manner’ instead of exploring their agential capacities (p. 1730).…”

“…As background, Jewkes and Morell [8] state that health literature, epidemiology, and qualitative research have tended ‘to treat women as a homogeneous group and as victims of (all) men’ and deployed the categories woman or female ‘in a blunt and uncritical manner’ instead of exploring their agential capacities (p. 1730). Moreover, addressing issues of power are crucial [14], including the more general and systemic devaluation of femininity across genders and sexualities [7,15].…”

“…As Graham [5] notes, constructs of femininity may ‘shift over the life course as young people are exposed to different social and cultural contexts’ (p. 266). And, there is more than one way to construct, navigate and negotiate femininity, which can be dependent on place, time and micro-politics of life [5,8–10,13,15,17,29–35]. Performances and practices of femininity are thus understood as ‘social constructions’ intrinsically linked to health and illness [10,36].…”

“…Connell [37] terms this ‘emphasised femininity’. Emphasised femininity may be understood as tied to traditional gender orders of women’s responsibility and caring within domestic fields [10] (p. 1571), and characterised by ‘compliance with women’s subordination and accommodation of the interests and desires of men’ [8] (p. 1730). Normative femininity is commonly described as performed within the context of what Rich [38] terms ‘compulsory heterosexuality’, and Butler [39] terms ‘the heteronormative matrix’.…”

“…Societal gender constructs and gender order not only shape young women’s opportunities in life, but also their agency and health [5,8,10]. Research is important but still lacking on health experiences related to the multitude of femininities across the lifespan and in various and changing social contexts.…”