The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)

The Prize and the Price
Shaping sexualities in South Africa

2249 Large

What is the Prize, and who pays the Price? The desired and the desirable are often constellated through our ideas of what is undesired and undesirable, deeply knotted into our sense of self, our sense of where and how we fit into the world. These notions of desire form the backdrop to this powerful volume which examines the historical continuities and interruptions of heteronormativity in South African society.

Leading and emerging scholars disentangle the strands of particular sexual identities, and deepen the reader's understanding of the multiple workings of heteronormativity in South African society in particular, and sexuality in general. Through analyzing where and how heteronormativity intersects with other axes of power and social identity, contributors to this volume reveal that it is not monolithic, and heterosexuality as the South African norm is effectively 'outed' from within heteronormativity.

The chapters extend beyond the well researched areas of sexuality - same sexualities, HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence - to less discussed areas, such as childhood sexuality and disability. The multiplicity of issues raised have relevance for a range of readers interested in the fledgling field of Sexualities Studies, and in its significance the scholarship extends well beyond the borders of South Africa.

Open Access

Product information

Format : 240mm x 168mm (Soft Cover)
Pages : 424
ISBN 10 : 0-7969-2239-X
ISBN 13 : 978-07969-2239-7
Publish Year : 2009
Rights : World Rights

Acknowledgements
Dedication

1. The prize and the price
Melissa Steyn and Mikki van Zyl

NEGOTIATING NEW DEALS

2. Colouring sexualities: how some black South African schoolgirls respond to racial and gendered inequalities
Rob Pattman and Deevia Bhana

3. Glamour, glitz and girls: the meanings of femininity in high school Matric Ball culture in urban South Africa
Elaine Salo and Bianca Davids

4. E-race-ing the line: South African interracial relationships yesterday and today
Rebecca Sherman and Melissa Steyn

FLIPPING THE COIN

5. Renegotiating masculinity in the Lowveld: narratives of male-male sex in compounds, prisons and at home
Isak Niehaus

6. Fauna, flora and fucking: female sex safaris in South Africa
Haley A McEwen

7. Are blind people better lovers?
Reinette Popplestone

8. Sexuality in later life
Helena B Thornton, F C V Potocnik and J E Muller

PAYING THE PRICE

9. The weather watchers: Gender, violence and social control in South Africa
Lillian Artz

10. Nurturing the sexuality of disabled girls: The challenges of parenting for mothers
Washeila Sait, Theresa Lorenzo, Melissa Steyn and Mikki van Zyl

11. A decent place? Space and morality in a former 'poor white' suburb
Annika Teppo

12. Less is (M)orr: Aprs le dluge (Or rather: More or less ...): An essay about and conversation with Margaret Orr
Joan Hambidge and Margaret Orr

HOLDING ONTO THE PRIZE

13. Heterosex among young South Africans: Research reflections
Tamara Shefer and Don Foster

14. Apartheid, anti-apartheid and post-apartheid sexualities
Kopano Ratele

15. 'Astride a dangerous dividing line': A discourse analysis of preschool teachers' talk about childhood sexuality
Jane van der Riet

QUE(E)RYING THE CONTRACT

16. Criminalising the act of sex: Attitudes to adult commercial sex work in South Africa
Jillian Gardner

17. Queer marriage: Sexualising citizenship and the development of freedoms in South Africa
Vasu Reddy

18. Beyond the Constitution: from sexual rights to belonging
Mikki van Zyl

CONCLUSION

19. Shaping sexualities
Melissa Steyn and Mikki van Zyl

Contributors
Index

Melissa Steyn is Associate Professor in Sociology and Director of Intercultural and Diversity Studies of Southern Africa at the University of Cape Town. Although she publishes on many aspects of diversity, she is best known as the author of Whiteness Just isn't What it Used to Be: White identity in a changing South Africa (2001), which was awarded an Outstanding Scholarship award from the National Communication Association, USA, and as co-editor of the series Shaping Sexualities.

Mikki van Zyl, a lifelong anti-apartheid and gender activist, is presently completing a doctorate on same-sex marriage in South Africa, has an MPhil in Feminist Sexual Politics, and has lectured in Media Studies, Sociology, Criminology, Disability Studies and Diversity Studies. For 20 years she has worked as a researcher, trainer and writer in gender, sexualities and development and participatory action research. She co-edited Performing Queer with Steyn.

Download
How to order
Share this

You might also consider these related books

2232 Large

Women's Property Rights, HIV and AIDS & Domestic Violence
Research Findings from Two Districts in South Africa and Uganda

Women's property and inheritance rights are recognised in international law and in a growing number of countries worldwide, yet women in many developing countries do not have the right to own or inherit property. At the same time, women are increasingly heading up households and are in critical need of land and property for economic security, particularly in the context of the AIDS epidemic - in fact, secure property rights are believed to be a factor in reducing women's risk of contracting HIV and in protecting them from domestic violence.

Open Access

Product information

Format : 280mm x 210mm (Soft Cover)
Pages : 184
ISBN 10 : 0-7969-2223-3
ISBN 13 : 978-07969-2223-6
Publish Year : 2008
Rights : World Rights
Price R 125.00
Full details
2113 Large

Baba
Men and Fatherhood in South Africa

Baba: Men and Fatherhood in South Africa provides answers to some of the most difficult questions about fatherhood in South Africa: Who is a father? What does it mean to be a father? Is it important for fathers to do more for children in a world that assumes that mothers take the primary parenting role? Do different people understand fatherhood in different ways? What evidence is there of new fatherhood styles emerging in South Africa?

Open Access

Product information

Format : 168mm x 240mm (Soft Cover)
Pages : 416
ISBN 10 : 0-7969-2096-6
ISBN 13 : 978-07969-2096-6
Publish Year : 2006
Rights : World Rights
Price R 187.00
Full details
2179 Large

Women, Development and Transport in Rural Eastern Cape, South Africa

Addressing the challenges facing policy and its implementation in respect of women, development and transport by concentrating on selected sites in the rural Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

Open Access

Product information

Format : 210mm x 280mm
Pages : 56
ISBN 10 : 0-7969-2168-7
ISBN 13 : 978-07969-2168-0
Publish Year : 2006
Price R 98.00
Full details
2282 Large

The country we want to live in
Hate crimes and homophobia in the lives of black lesbian South Africans

The country we want to live in: Hate crimes and homophobia in the lives of black lesbian South Africans offers a refreshing perspective on violence perpetrated against black lesbians. Based on a Roundtable seminar, held during the 2006 16 Days of Activism for no Violence against Women and Children, the text engages the heteronormative focus of the campaign, profiles aspects of the dynamic conversations, and builds strong arguments about violence against lesbians. It also profiles the voices of women who are central to the activism around hate crimes and homophobia. In capturing key aspects of the lively discussion of 2006, an update of subsequent events that have bearing on the original seminar is provided, concluding with recommendations that have relevance for research, policy and practice. The country we want to live in makes an impassioned plea about citizenship, belonging and social justice, confirming that silence about these issues is not an option.

Open Access

Product information

Format : 210mm x 148mm (Soft Cover)
Pages : 72
ISBN 10 : 0-7969-2341-8
ISBN 13 : 978-07969-2341-7
Publish Year : 2010
Rights : World Rights
Price R 50.00
Full details