Abstract
This article focuses on the narratives of 18 adolescent boys as they engaged with issues of sex, sexuality and peer relations in their daily lives. The ethnographic research was conducted in two public secondary schools in a working-class community within KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Participants were boys aged between 16 and 19 years, who self-identified as either Black African or Indian. Theories of positioning are employed in this paper to delve into the complexity and intricacies of boys enacting their masculinities and sexual identities within a one-to-one interview space with one of the researchers. Identity performance in this private space is read in relation to public positions (in the company of peers), exposing the malleable nature of positioning and its subjective use in different spaces. Findings suggest that boys’ struggle with the concept and social practice of ‘masculinity’, and that while they may not want to be seen as aspiring to certain ideals regarding male sexuality, these values remain a standard against which to evaluate self and other. In the individual interviews, authenticity as a heterosexual man is negotiated through various rhetorical strategies, namely a tendency to self-position as mature and sensible. It is argued that positionality is a useful conceptual tool for highlighting diversities in the performance of masculinities, and that intervention strategies need to pay attention to how spaces are constructed and nurtured for boys to engage with the ideological dilemmas in their identity development.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, B. (2010). Coloured’ boys talk: Constructing heterosexual masculinities in a working class high school context. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 20(4), 635–664.
Babbie, E., & Mouton, J. (2003). The practice of social research. Cape Town: Oxford University Press Southern Africa.
Bhana, D., & Pattman, R. (2011). Girls want money, boys want virgins: The materiality of love amongst South African township youth in the context of HIV and AIDS. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 13(8), 961–972.
Billig, M. (1991). Ideology and opinions: Studies in rhetorical psychology. London: Sage.
Bowley, B. (2013). Soft boys, tough boys and the making of young sporty masculinities at a private boys’ school. Agenda, 27(3), 87–93.
Brown, J., Sorrell, J., & Raffaelli, M. (2005). An exploratory study of constructions of masculinity, sexuality and HIV/AIDS in Namibia, Southern Africa. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 7(6), 585–598.
Burr, V. (2003). An introduction to social constructionism (2nd edn.). East Sussex: Routledge.
Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of ‘sex’. New York: Routledge.
Chu, J. Y. (2005). Adolescent boys’ friendships and peer group culture. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2005(107), 7–22.
Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Connell, R. W. (2005). Growing up masculine: Rethinking the significance of adolescence in the making of masculinities. Irish Journal of Sociology, 14(2), 11–28.
Dalley-Trim, L. (2007). The boys’ present… Hegemonic masculinity: a performance of multiple acts. Gender and Education, 19(2), 199–217.
Davies, B., & Harré, R. (1990). Positioning: The discursive production of selves. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 20(1), 43–63.
Edley, N. (2001). Analysing masculinities: Interpretive repertoires, ideological dilemmas and subject positions. In M. Wetherell, S. Taylor & S. Yates (Eds.), Discourse as data: A guide for analysis (pp. 189–228). London: The Open University.
Edley, N., & Wetherell, M. (1997). Jockeying for position: The construction on masculine identities. Discourse and Society, 8(2), 203–217.
Frosh, S., Phoenix, A., & Pattman, R. (2002). Young masculinities. New York: Palgrave.
Gibbs, A., Jewkes, R., Sikweyiya, Y., & Willan, S. (2014). Reconstructing masculinity? A qualitative evaluation of the stepping stones and creating futures interventions in urban informal settlements in South Africa. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 17(2), 208–222.
Gibbs, A., Vaughan, C., & Aggleton, P. (2015). Beyond “working with men and boys”: (Re)defining, challenging and transforming masculinities in sexuality and health programmes and policy. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 17(sup2), 85–95.
Govender, K. (2011). The cool, the bad, the ugly, and the powerful: Identity struggles in schoolboy peer culture. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 13(8), 887–901.
Greene, M., & Barker, G. (2011). Masculinity and its public health implications for sexual and reproductive health and HIV prevention. In R. Parker & M. Sommer (Eds.), Routledge handbook in global public health (pp. 199–207). Abingdon: Routledge.
Hamlall, V., & Morrell, R. (2012). Conflict, provocation and fights among boys in a South African high school. Gender and Education, 24(5), 483–498.
Harré, R., & van Langenhove, L. (1999). The dynamics of social episodes. In R. Harre & L. van Langenhove (Eds.), Positioning theory (pp. 1–31). Oxford: Blackwell.
Jewkes, R., & Morrell, R. (2010). Gender and sexuality: Emerging perspectives from the heterosexual epidemic in South Africa and implications for HIV risk and prevention. Journal of International AIDS Society, 13(6), 1–11.
Langa, M. (2010). Contested multiple voices of young masculinities amongst adolescent boys in Alexandra Township, South Africa. Journal of Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 22(1), 1–13.
Lindegger, G., & Quale, M. (2009). Masculinity and HIV/AIDS. In P. Rohleder, L. Swartz, S. C. Kalichman & L. C. Simbayi (Eds.), HIV/AIDS in South Africa 25 years on: Psychosocial perspectives (pp. 41–54). New York: Springer.
McCormack, M., & Anderson, E. (2010). The re-production of homosexually-themed discourse in educationally-based organised sport. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 12(8), 913–927.
Morrell, R., Jewkes, R., & Lindegger, G. (2012). Hegemonic masculinity/masculinities in South Africa: Culure, power and gender politics. Men and Masculinities, 15(1), 11–30.
Parkes, J., & Conolly, A. (2013). Dangerous encounters? Boys’ peer dynamics and neighbourhood risk. Discourse: Studies in the cultural politics of education, 34(1), 94–106.
Peacock, D., Stemple, L., Sawires, S., & Coates, T. J. (2009). Men, HIV/AIDS and human rights. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 51(3), 119–125.
Phoenix, A., Frosh, S., & Pattman, R. (2003). Producing contradictory masculine subject positions: Narratives of threat, homophobia and bullying in 11–14 year old boys. Journal of Social Issues, 59(1), 179–195.
Pollack, W. (1998). Real boys: Rescuing our sons from the myths of boyhood. New York: Owl Books.
Potter, J., & Wetherell, M. (1987). Discourse and social psychology. London: Sage.
Ratele, K. (2008). Masculinity and male mortality in South Africa. African Safety Promotion, 6(2), 19–41.
Reardon, C. A., & Govender, K. (2011). “Shaping up”: The relationship between traditional masculinity, conflict resolution and body image among adolescent boys in South Africa. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 6(1), 78–87.
Shand, T., Thomson-de Boor, H., van den Berg, W., Peacock, D., & Pascoe, L. (2014). The HIV blind spot: Men and HIV testing, treatment and care in Sub-Saharan Africa. Institute of Development Studies Bulletin, 45(1), 53–60.
Shefer, T., & Foster, D. (2009). Heterosex among young South Africans: Research reflections. In M. Steyn & M. van Zyl (Eds.), The price/the prize: Shaping sexualities in the new South Africa (pp. 267–289). Cape Town: HSRC Press.
Shefer, T., Kruger, L., & Schepers, Y. (2015). Masculinity, sexuality and vulnerability in ‘working’ with young men in South African contexts: ‘You feel like a fool and an idiot … a loser’. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 17(sup2), 96–111.
Sommer, M., Likindikoki, S., & Kaaya, S. (2015). Bend a fish when the fish is not yet dry”: Adolescent boys’ perceptions of sexual risk in Tanzania. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44(3), 583–595.
Tillotson, J., & Maharaj, P. (2001). Barriers to HIV/AIDS protective behaviour among African adolescent males in township secondary schools in Durban, South Africa. Society in Transition, 32(1), 83–100.
Tucker, L. A., & Govender, K. (2016). “Sticks and stones”: Masculinities and conflict spaces. Gender and Education, 29(3), 352–368.
Wetherell, M., & Edley, N. (1999). Negotiating hegemonic masculinity: Imaginary positions and psycho-discursive practices. Feminism & Psychology, 9(3), 335–356.
Wetherell, M., & Edley, N. (2014). A discursive psychological framework for analyzing men and masculinities. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 15(4), 355–364.
Wood, K., & Jewkes, R. (2001). ‘Dangerous’ love: Reflections on violence among Xhosa township youth. In R. Morrell (Ed.), Changing men in Southern Africa (pp. 317–336). Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.
Yamakawa, Y., Forman, E., & Ansell, E. (2005). The role of positioning in constructing an identity in a third grade mathematics classroom. In K. Kumpulainen, C. E. Hmelo-Silver & M. César (Eds.), Investigating classroom interaction: Methodologies in action (pp. 179–202). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the South African Institute of Race Relations (Grant No.: ustelp/udw/0289/2004); and the South African Medical Research Council [Grant No.: 0598/2006].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Govender, K., Tucker, L.A. & Coldwell, S. Sense and Sensibilities: Schoolboys Talk about Sex in the Private Conversational Space. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 36, 391–398 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-018-0567-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-018-0567-z