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Sex talk: Mutuality and power in the shadow of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Yes / Bids for mutuality in sexual partnerships are key to AIDS campaigning slogans such as
`negotiate¿, `know your partner¿ and `use condoms¿. This paper explores the
contradiction between more mutuality in sexual relations and the gender power politics
that render such mutuality difficult to achieve in Africa, as well as the caricatures of
`African sexuality¿ that have pervaded some of the literature. It looks at the new
discourses of sexuality delivered via NGOs and the state as well as the ways in which
customary silences about sex are being broken by ordinary people. It asks whether, given
the threat of HIV infection, people are talking in new ways about sexual relationships,
and how this talk is gendered. It also addresses the challenge to African feminism of
sexuality discourses and how these need to be rethought in the context of AIDS. It
concludes that the prospect of death by sex is transforming discourses, challenging
customary sexual practice and putting gendered inequalities in question.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/3844
Date January 2007
CreatorsBujra, Janet M.
PublisherUniversity of Bradford
Source SetsBradford Scholars
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeWorking Paper, published version paper
Rights© 2007 University of Bradford. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share-Alike License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk).
Relationhttp://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/icps/publications/papers/index.php

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