Female sexuality in Nairobi

Flawed or favoured

Datos Bibliográficos

ID15099342
AutoresR Spronk (0000-0002-5207-711X, University of Amsterdam, autor de correspondencia)
Año2005
Volumen7
Número3
Páginas267-277
Fecha de publicación2005-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCulture Health & Sexuality (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1369-1058 • E-ISSN: 1464-5351
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13691050410001731107
PMID16864202
OpenAlexW2109774303
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas17
Referencias citadas14

Studies of female sexuality in Africa tend to adopt an instrumental approach, many times problematizing sexual conduct in relation to HIV infection and/or reproduction. This study aimed to explore sexuality as a relational concept. Using interviews and participant observation, the paper shows how sexuality becomes a point of self-identification for young professional women in Nairobi between 20 and 30 years-old. These women form a group who implicitly and explicitly criticize conventional gender roles through the overt pursuit of sexual pleasure as recognition of their womanhood. This aspect of the feminine sense of self is at odds with normative notions of femininity. To avoid criticism for being 'un-proper', women adopt a deferential attitude towards men. The focus on upwardly mobile professional women and their experiments with new types of heterosexual relations in dating provides insight into both sexuality and gender

Developmental psychology · Femininity · Human sexuality · Normative · Pleasure · Political science · Sociology · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Social Psychology