Negotiating identity: the experiences of black self-identified lesbian youth in township and rural contexts of KwaZulu-Natal.

Abstract

While lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth face the typical challenges of South African youth, their lives are shaped by unique and complex experiences of discrimination and marginalisation within the family, school and in cultural and religious settings. The study reported in this thesis explored the experiences of 12 black self-identified lesbian youth of school going age in township and rural contexts of KwaZulu-Natal. The study sought to explore how they construct and negotiate their experiences in the way that they do. This qualitative study was located within the interpretive paradigm and used a narrative inquiry design, with grounded conversations, focus group discussions, photovoice and diaries as data gathering tools. Six participants were selected through snowball sampling from rural contexts and six from township contexts. Ten were raised by their mothers and grandparents, one by her mother and adoptive father and the other one by her biological parents. The two theories that informed data analysis in the study were queer theory and the feminist theory of intersectionality. Queer theory became an appropriate tool in unpacking and understanding the multiple interpretations and fluidity of participants’ sexual identity. Intersectionality offered insight into how these youth’s experiences were caught up in inequalities of power related to gender, race, age, and social backgrounds. Ten themes and three sub-themes emerged in the findings: Firstly, it was family networks as either supportive or demoralising and the three sub-themes, namely: a) difference enriching family relationships, b) children raised to think that they are useless, a shame and worthless and c) dysfunctional families and hatred of difference. Secondly, “Understandings of (absent) fatherhood”. The third theme was about the village failing to raise a child. The fourth was about schools as unsafe spaces. The fifth theme was on the teachers’ perspective about “Use the boys’ toilets because you are boys”. Sixth, other learners told them that “You are not competition; you need to be reminded that you are a girl”. The seventh theme was reminding the participants about their culture, “Behave properly, as expected in our culture”. The eighth theme exposed rejection and isolation: the cleansing of the sin. The ninth theme revealed participants’ assertion and self-esteem through sport, art and healing. The tenth theme highlighted the violence, trauma and resilience that were experienced by the participants. A major focus became my struggle in dealing with the traumatic situations of participants, situations I had not been prepared for, which pointed to the need for a fully reflexive approach to such research. The study concludes with the responses to the research questions, in particular the factors that led to the emphatic proclamation of a lesbian identity by participants, and with proposals for action and for further study.