This research aimed to explore the narratives of romantic jealousy in the context of infidelity
for heterosexual and homosexual men from Johannesburg South Africa. This study takes on a
qualitative approach using a narrative analysis in combination with a structural and thematic
content analysis. The narratives of the heterosexual and homosexual men revealed the role
which jealousy plays in every relationship, and how it can affect the emotions and behaviours
of both partners. This study found that the narratives of these men were in contradiction to
what evolutionary theories as well as past research on the topic have suggested. Evolutionary
perspectives propose that heterosexual men are more inclided to sexual infidelity, this was
however found to be in contradiction to the beliefs and ideas held by the participants of this
study. Heterosexual participants of this study reported that for them emotional infidelity
would be more jealousy provoking, as it would be a sure indication that the relationship
would end. Past research findings on the other hand have suggested that homosexual males
are more inclined to emotional infidelity, as they do not face the risk of cuckholdry. However
the same can not be said for the narratives of the homosexual participants of this study. The
narrative of all except for one homosexual participant indicated that homosexual men felt that
they would be greatly affected by sexual infidelity rather than emotional infidelity. There
explanations revolved around the open ended nature and ease of access to sex which is
prevalent in the gay community. It is also important to note that simmilarly to the
heterosexual group, most of the participnats who experienced sexual jealousy also
experienced sexual infidelity. Indicating a link between the type of infidelity you experience
to the type of jealousy you feel.
This research identified that heterosexual participants felt that in their live stories they found
emotional jealousy to be the worst apsect of infidelity while homosexual men felt that sexual
jealousy was the worst aspect of infidelity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/15411 |
| Date | 05 September 2014 |
| Creators | Delport, Zhel-Ann |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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