Abstract
This chapter sets the context for making sense of the three central motifs of the women’s collective narratives identified in the rest of the book. The author outlines the textures of patriarchal oppression of female sexuality, with a specific focus on the violent control, shaming and silencing of sexuality prevalent in current post-apartheid South Africa. She discusses important debates about sexuality research and the absence of positive aspects of sexuality—research trends which reinforce dominant ideas about female sexuality as dangerous and in need of control. The author then examines African-centred research which sheds useful insights about how women engage with aspects of their sexual subjectivity in subtle, yet powerful, ways in the face of patriarchal oppression. She then critically theorises the concept of agency and presents her chosen theoretical lenses, feminist poststructuralism (Weedon, Feminist Practice and Poststructuralist Theory. New York: Basil Blackwell Ltd, 1987) and social remembering (Haaken, Heretical texts. In S. Lamb (Ed.), New versions of victims: Feminists struggle with the concept (pp. 13–31). New York: New York University Press, 1999). This chapter provides a powerful theoretical model for better exploring women’s experiences of, and resistance to, patriarchal oppression of female sexuality in contexts within which dehumanising violence is part of everyday life.
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Notes
- 1.
The term ‘wendy house’ is used in South Africa to refer to a small house structure made out of wood. It is a form of accommodation for low-income people, usually erected in someone’s back yard.
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van Schalkwyk, S. (2018). Patriarchal Oppression of Female Sexuality in Africa: Textures of Violence and Theorising Agency. In: Narrative Landscapes of Female Sexuality in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97825-3_2
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