This qualitative study is an exploration of the sexual subjectivities of a group of Coloured high school girls aged 16-17. These girls emerge from both working and middle class backgrounds in the former Coloured suburb of Sydenham in Durban. The study sought to understand what the Coloured girls in this study regard as risky sexual behaviour, what types of risky sexual behaviours they engage in, as well as how they both accommodate and resist male power, with regard to their sexual attitudes and practices. Gender-power and poststructuralist theories were used to show how gender and (male) power are implicated in sexual risk. The findings show that these Coloured girls accommodate, challenge and resist persisting gender norms, traditional sex roles and racial stereotypes. Focus group and individual interviewing techniques elicited responses that show the variegated sexual identities and evidence of sexual agency crafted in their attempts to assert themselves as young women who are able to subvert discourses of male sexual privilege and power. The findings also illuminate how many of the girls in this study demonstrate a certain amount of agency, where they are able to negotiate safe sex practices with their partners. Such resistance and agency has important implications for sexual decision making and girls’ empowerment. Findings of this study were used to develop strategies in order to raise greater HIV and AIDS awareness, encourage safer sex practices as well as build more caring, loving and cohesive relationships. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

This study aims to explore how young coloured girls, aged 16-17, give meaning to sexuality. Coloured girls’ are often marginalised in South African research and debate around gender and sexuality. This study focuses on coloured girls in two different social and economic contexts in Durban. The one context is Wentworth which remains a predominantly coloured working class area. The other is a middle class former white area in Glenwood Durban. The study draws on qualitative research using interview methods to focus on eight girls in these two areas. Three of the girls emerged from Glenwood whilst five others live in Wentworth. The aim of the study was to understand the ways in which class impacted on their meanings of sexuality. Gender, race and class are intertwined social constructs which assist in the formulation of sexual identities. This study investigated the similarities and differences between the two groups of coloured girls. They differed in relation to: their mindsets regarding everyday life, for example the girls from Glenwood interacted with boys from all four racial groups and had a better understanding of their different cultures. The girls from Wentworth found boys from racial groups other than coloured more attractive due to lack of knowledge of them. Thus the girls from Glenwood were open to multi-racial relationships whilst the girls from Wentworth were afraid to do so, as they would be subject to ridicule from the community. In Wentworth ones status is defined by clothing, cash and cars and in order for these young girls to be successful in this community they must affiliate themselves with boys/men who can provide such things; even if they come at a high price. In this study the girls were similar in that they all wanted to be independent, wanted to finish school, find good jobs, and buy their own cars, thus we see the feminine agency of coloured girls from two different socio-economic contexts. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

This study explores the meanings that young African schoolgirls aged 16 turning 17 from a high school in Umlazi, Durban give to their sexual identities. Using qualitative research methods in the form of semi-structured open-ended interviews and focus group discussions, their understandings of sex, sexuality and sexual risk were explored. The aim was to investigate why these young girls expose themselves to risk by engaging in unprotected sex, in spite of sex education and many interventions and campaigns related to Human Immune- Deficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) infections' awareness which these girls receive in school. Poverty, unemployment and crime plague this community and it is within this context that these girls make sense of their sexual identities. The main findings of this study are that these young girls resist being placed in a subordinate position and the patriarchal system which the society and boys attempt to impose. Furthermore, most of these girls come from broken families where grandparents have a responsibility to sustain the family. In the process, girls expose themselves to sexual risk as they become vulnerable to peer pressure. Girls' response to their challenges with regards to sexual identity is to act like boys, have multiple partners, and dump the boys who demand sexual favours. In response, this study aims to enlighten the girls regarding the dangers inherent in their behaviour and to assist them with safer ways of assuming 'girl power'. Girl power implies that girls are empowered with skills to be self confidence, be confident with themselves by protecting themselves from sexual infections and to take informed decisions as they negotiate their sexualities. The findings reveal that girls reject the patriarchy that subordinates them and are now taking a position of girl power. I conclude that, in assuming their power over boys, these young girls want to behave like boys and have multiple partners which put them at risk. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.