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Education, Development, Leadership and Management

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/7165

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Browsing Education, Development, Leadership and Management by Author "Anderson, Bronwynne Mardia."

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    African township high school boys' articulations of masculinity, sexuality and sexual risk in the age of HIV / AIDS.
    (2012) Ngubane, Sibusiso Siphesihle.; Anderson, Bronwynne Mardia.
    The aim of this study was to explore African high school boys' articulations of masculinity, the meanings they give to their sexuality and risky sexual behaviours in the age of HIV/AIDS. The study focused on finding out what explanations boys offer for engaging in risky and unsafe sexual practices. The study used qualitative research in the form of focus group discussions and individual interviews. Seven African high school boys aged 16 turning 17 were the source of data. The findings show that some boys engage in unprotected sex, while others indicated that unprotected sex is risky. This study argues that the risky sexual behaviours that boys engage in are closely related to their constructions of masculinity. It also found that the meanings boys give to their sexuality are also influenced by external factors whereby they imitate what their peers do in order to gain acknowledgement from them and the society. Alcohol is a key factor promoting unsafe sexual practices, while social networks, such as Facebook and Mixit, are used by boys to share sex videos and pictures, thus exposing them to too much sex. With regards to implications, this study shows that the notion of being a real man is something that most boys want to achieve. Being a real man is tantamount to being courageous enough to engage in risky practices.
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    Gender and sexuality in the context of HIV and AIDS: sexual risk and sexual agency amongst coloured high school girls in Durban.
    (2012) Gopaldass, Sherri-Lee.; Anderson, Bronwynne Mardia.
    This qualitative study is an exploration of the sexual subjectivities of a group of Coloured high school girls aged 16-17. These girls emerge from both working and middle class backgrounds in the former Coloured suburb of Sydenham in Durban. The study sought to understand what the Coloured girls in this study regard as risky sexual behaviour, what types of risky sexual behaviours they engage in, as well as how they both accommodate and resist male power, with regard to their sexual attitudes and practices. Gender-power and poststructuralist theories were used to show how gender and (male) power are implicated in sexual risk. The findings show that these Coloured girls accommodate, challenge and resist persisting gender norms, traditional sex roles and racial stereotypes. Focus group and individual interviewing techniques elicited responses that show the variegated sexual identities and evidence of sexual agency crafted in their attempts to assert themselves as young women who are able to subvert discourses of male sexual privilege and power. The findings also illuminate how many of the girls in this study demonstrate a certain amount of agency, where they are able to negotiate safe sex practices with their partners. Such resistance and agency has important implications for sexual decision making and girls’ empowerment. Findings of this study were used to develop strategies in order to raise greater HIV and AIDS awareness, encourage safer sex practices as well as build more caring, loving and cohesive relationships.
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    Negotiating sexuality : challenges facing young African schoogirls [i.e. schoolgirls] in the era of HIV and AIDS.
    (2012) Zwane, Pinky Ntombizonke.; Anderson, Bronwynne Mardia.
    This study explores the meanings that young African schoolgirls aged 16 turning 17 from a high school in Umlazi, Durban give to their sexual identities. Using qualitative research methods in the form of semi-structured open-ended interviews and focus group discussions, their understandings of sex, sexuality and sexual risk were explored. The aim was to investigate why these young girls expose themselves to risk by engaging in unprotected sex, in spite of sex education and many interventions and campaigns related to Human Immune- Deficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) infections' awareness which these girls receive in school. Poverty, unemployment and crime plague this community and it is within this context that these girls make sense of their sexual identities. The main findings of this study are that these young girls resist being placed in a subordinate position and the patriarchal system which the society and boys attempt to impose. Furthermore, most of these girls come from broken families where grandparents have a responsibility to sustain the family. In the process, girls expose themselves to sexual risk as they become vulnerable to peer pressure. Girls' response to their challenges with regards to sexual identity is to act like boys, have multiple partners, and dump the boys who demand sexual favours. In response, this study aims to enlighten the girls regarding the dangers inherent in their behaviour and to assist them with safer ways of assuming 'girl power'. Girl power implies that girls are empowered with skills to be self confidence, be confident with themselves by protecting themselves from sexual infections and to take informed decisions as they negotiate their sexualities. The findings reveal that girls reject the patriarchy that subordinates them and are now taking a position of girl power. I conclude that, in assuming their power over boys, these young girls want to behave like boys and have multiple partners which put them at risk.