Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/15576
Title: 'If I buy the Kellogs then he should [buy] the milk': young women's perspectives on relationship dynamics, gender power and HIV risk in Johannesburg, South Africa
Contributor(s): Pettifor, Audrey (author); MacPhail, Catherine  (author)orcid ; Anderson, Althea D (author); Maman, Suzanne (author)
Publication Date: 2012
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.1080/13691058.2012.667575Open Access Link
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/15576
Open Access Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3570821Open Access Link
Abstract: Ideals of masculinity and femininity may limit South African women's decision making power in relationships and increase their risk of HIV infection. We conducted 30 in-depth interviews with 18 - 24-year-old women in inner-city Johannesburg with the aim of understanding young women's expectations of intimate relationships with men, their perceptions of gender and power and how this influences HIV risk. We found that the majority of young women reported expectations of power in relationships that conform to a model of femininity marked by financial independence, freedom to make decisions, including over sexuality, and equality (resistant femininity). The majority of young women, however, were in relationships marked by intimate partner violence, infidelity or lack of condom use. In spite of this, more young women who subscribed to a resistant model of femininity were in less risky relationships than young women who subscribed to acquiescent models, in which power was vested in their male partners. Further, young women who subscribed to resistant femininity had more education than women who subscribed to an acquiescent model. The disconnect between expectations of relationships and young women's lived realities emphasises the need for structural changes that afford women greater economic and thus decision making power.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Culture, Health and Sexuality, 14(5), p. 477-490
Publisher: Routledge
Place of Publication: United Kingdom
ISSN: 1464-5351
1369-1058
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 111712 Health Promotion
111799 Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 420603 Health promotion
420399 Health services and systems not elsewhere classified
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 920413 Social Structure and Health
920401 Behaviour and Health
920499 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) not elsewhere classified
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 200413 Substance abuse
200207 Social structure and health
200401 Behaviour and health
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article

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