An exploration of university students’ views on intimate femicide in South Africa.
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Date
2021
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Abstract
Most of the research regarding views on intimate femicide has been conducted abroad, while
views concerning the phenomena have not been researched extensively in South Africa. The
aim of this qualitative study was therefore to explore university students’ views of intimate
femicide in the South Africa context It explored, firstly, the student’s views on the reasons for
the occurrence of intimate femicide, secondly, their views on howIPVincidences are portrayed
in the media and, thirdly, their views on the appropriateness of existing interventions at
addressing the scourge. The study analysed transcriptions of semi-structured interviews
conducted with 11 students from a university in South Africa. Thematic analysis was used to
analyse the data through the lens of ecological theory. The participants identified an array of
intersecting factors at different levels of influence that they believe are driving femicide in
South Africa. For example, participants felt that intrapersonal emotions like ‘jealousy’ and
emotional dependence played a part in femicide. ‘Participants identified parenting practices
and the witnessing of childhood violence (a mesosystemic factor) as contributing towards the
formation of hegemonic masculine identities, which they viewed as playing a role in femicide.
The participants were critical of the tendency for the media (an exosystemic factor) to adopt a
‘sensationalist’ reporting style and disproportionately cover femicides committed by high-profiled
individuals, which ultimately does little to educate the public on the issue. The
participants viewed protection orders (a macrosystemic factor) as a mere, ‘piece of paper’,
leaving women vulnerable to femicide. In sum, the participants proposed (in keeping with the
ecological framework) that intimate femicide is a social issue that requires interventions at the
individual, interpersonal, community, cultural, political, and institutional levels. Overall, this
study concluded that students are aware that various factors at various levels of influence are
driving femicide and that these insights might have been partly mediated by their studies. It
also found that students are an active audience of media representations of femicide. Lastly,
students pointed to the need for multi-level interventions to address femicide. The findings
provide insight into media representations of intimate femicide and how journalistic accounts
can be adjusted to encourage advocacy. The study also multi-systemic interventions that could
contribute to addressing this phenomenon.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.