Howard-Merrill, L;
Wamoyi, J;
Nyato, D;
Kyegombe, N;
Heise, L;
Buller, AM;
(2020)
'I trap her with a CD, then tomorrow find her with a big old man who bought her a smart phone'. Constructions of masculinities and transactional sex: a qualitative study from North-Western Tanzania.
Culture, Health & Sexuality
10.1080/13691058.2020.1832259.
(In press).
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Abstract
Men’s role in transactional sex is relatively unexplored, limiting initiatives to prevent exploitative transactional sex and its negative health implications for girls and women. We addressed this literature gap by conducting eight focus group discussions and twenty in-depth-interviews with boys and men aged 14 − 49 years in 2015 in Tanzania. We employed a novel combination of theoretical perspectives – gender and masculinities, and social norms – to understand how transactional sex participation contributes to perpetuating gendered hierarchies, and how reference groups influence men’s behaviour. Findings signal two gender norms that men display within transactional sex: the expectation of men’s provision in sexual relationships, and the expectation that men should exhibit heightened sexuality and sexual prowess. Adherence to these expectations in transactional sex relationships varied between older and younger men and created hierarchies among men and between men and women and girls. We found that approval of transactional sex was contested. Although young men were likely to object to transactional sex, they occupied a structurally weaker position than older men. Findings suggest that interventions should employ gender synchronised and gender transformative approaches and should prioritise the promotion of alternative positive norms over preventing the exchange of gifts or money in relationships.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | 'I trap her with a CD, then tomorrow find her with a big old man who bought her a smart phone'. Constructions of masculinities and transactional sex: a qualitative study from North-Western Tanzania |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/13691058.2020.1832259 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2020.1832259 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. |
| Keywords: | Transactional sex, social norms, hegemonic masculinity, homosociality, sexual exploitation |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10138121 |
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