Abstract
In this introduction we set the scene for the chapters that follow and draw attention to the need for addressing the field of sexuality and gender violence-based studies in educational settings by focusing on young person-centred studies within local settings in South Africa. Our starting point is that questions about violence in education are inextricably bound to gender and sexuality, and no engagement with violence can exclude it. The chapter provides a strong basis for understanding the key themes in the book, articulated through a “three-ply yarn approach.” This approach rejects pathologising the violent behaviour of individuals and instead draws attention to gender, sexuality, and the cultural dimensions of violence as it is experienced in educational spaces in South Africa. Through the triple-ply approach the chapter provides a context for understanding masculinities, heterosexuality, gender, race, culture, poverty, class, and structural inequalities. It introduces the key themes in the chapters that comprise the book and argues that changes to dominant ideologies around gender and sexuality are required, as is the need to focus on poverty, culture, race, and class inequalities in order to address gender violence in educational spaces in the country.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Exchange rates November 2020.
References
Allen, L. (2005). ‘Say everything’: Exploring young people’s suggestions for improving sexuality education. Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning, 5(4), 389–404.
Allen, L. (2012). Pleasure’s perils? Critically reflecting on pleasure’s inclusion in sexuality education. Sexualities, 15(3–4), 455–471.
Arnfred, S. (2017). The power of pleasure: Re-conceptualising sexualities. In J. Bennet & S. Tamale (Eds.), Research on gender and sexualities in Africa (pp. 43–64). Dakar, Senegal: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa.
Artz, L., Burton, P., Ward, C. L., Leoschut, L., Phyfer, J., Loyd, S., et al. (2016). Optimus study South Africa: Technical report. Sexual victimisation of children in South Africa: Final report of the Optimus Foundation Study. Zurich, South Africa: UBS Optimus Foundation.
Australian Human Rights Commission. (2017). Change the course: National report on sexual assault and sexual harassment at Australian universities. Sydney, Australia: Australian Human Rights Commission.
Berlant, L., & Warner, M. (1998). Sex in public. Critical Inquiry, 24, 547–566.
Bhana, D. (2016). Childhood sexuality and AIDS education: The price of innocence. London/New York: Routledge.
Bhana, D. (2018). Love, sex and teenage sexual cultures in South Africa: 16 turning 17. New York: Routledge.
Bhana, D., & Anderson, B. (2013). Desire and constraint in the construction of South African teenage women’s sexualities. Sexualities, 16(5/6), 548–564.
Bhana, D., & Pattman, R. (2009). Researching South African youth, gender and sexuality within the context of HIV/AIDS. Development, 52(1), 68–74.
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 and Sexuality, 13(8), 961–972.
Birdthistle, I., Tanton, C., Tomita, A., de Graaf, K., Schaffnit, S. B., Tanser, F., et al. (2019). Recent levels and trends in HIV incidence rates among adolescent girls and young women in ten high-prevalence African countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Global Health, 7(11), 1521–1540.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.
Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter. London: Routledge.
Christofides, N. J., Jewkes, R. K., Dunkle, K. L., et al. (2014). Risk factors for unplanned and unwanted teenage pregnancies occurring over two years of follow-up among a cohort of young South African women. Global Health Action, 7, 23719.
Connell, R. W. (1987). Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Connell, R. W. (2005). Masculinities (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Connell, R. W. (2007). Southern theory: The global dynamics of knowledge in social science. Cambridge, UK: Allen and Unwin.
Connell, R. W., & Messerschmidt, J. W. (2005). Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender and Society, 19(6), 829–859.
David, M. E. (2016). A feminist manifesto for education. Cambridge, UK/New York: Wiley.
DeJaeghere, J. (2018). Girl’s educational aspirations and agency: Imagining alternative futures through schooling in a low-resourced Tanzanian community. Critical Studies in Education, 59(2), 237–255.
Dellar, R. C., Dlamini, S., & Karim, Q. A. (2015). Adolescent girls and young women: Key populations for HIV epidemic control. Journal of the International AIDS Society, 18(2s1). https://doi.org/10.7448/IAS.18.2.19408
Department of Basic Education. (2010). Curriculum and assessment policy statements (CAPS). Life orientation Grades 7–9. Final draft. Pretoria, South Africa: Government Printers.
Department of Education. (1996). National education and policy framework Act of 1996. Pretoria, South Africa: National Department of Education.
Department of Higher Education and Training. (2017). Addressing gender-based violence in the post school education and training sector: Draft policy and strategic framework. Pretoria, South Africa: Department of Higher Education and Training.
Dunne, M. (2007). Gender, sexuality and schooling: Everyday life in junior secondary schools in Botswana and Ghana. International Journal of Educational Development, 27(5), 499–511.
Dunne, M. (2008). Gender, sexuality and development: Education and society in sub-Saharan Africa. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Egan, R. D. (2013). Becoming sexual: A critical appraisal of the sexualisation of girls. Cambridge, UK/New York: Oxford Polity Press.
Epstein, D., & Johnson, R. (1998). Schooling sexualities. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
Epstein, D., O’Flynn, S., & Telford, D. (2000). ‘Othering’ education: Sexualities, silences and schooling. Review of Research in Education, 25(1), 127–179.
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings 1972–1977. Hemel Hempstead, UK: Harvester.
Francis, D. A. (2011). Sexuality education in South Africa: Three essential questions. International Journal of Educational Development, 30, 314–319.
Francis, D. A. (2017). Troubling the teaching and learning of gender and sexuality diversity in South African Education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Frosh, S., Phoenix, A., & Pattman, R. (2002). Young masculinities. New York: Palgrave.
Gevers, A., Mathews, C., Cupp, P., Russell, M., & Jewkes, R. (2013). Illegal yet developmentally normative: A descriptive analysis of young, urban adolescents’ dating and sexual behaviour in Cape Town, South Africa. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 13(1), 31. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-698X-13-31
Gottzén, L., Mellstrom, U., & Shefer, T. (2020). Routledge international handbook of masculinity studies. London: Routledge.
Gouws, G., & Hassim, S. (2014). Who’s afraid of feminism? South African democracy at 20: An introduction. Agenda, 28(2), 4–6.
Grose, R. G., Chen, J. S., Roof, K. A., Rachel, S., & Yount, K. M. (2020). Sexual and reproductive health outcomes of violence against women and girls in lower-income countries: A review of reviews. Journal of Sex Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2019.1707466
Hattery, A. J., & Smith, E. (2019). Gender, power, and Violence: Responding to sexual and intimate partner violence in society today. London: Rowman & Littlefield.
Haywood, C., & Mac an Ghaill, M. (2013). Education and masculinities: Social, cultural and global Transformations. New York: Routledge.
Hearn, J. (1998). The violences of men: How men talk about and how agencies respond to men’s violence to women. London: Sage.
Hearn, J. (2018). You, them, us, we, too?…online-offline, individual-collective, forgotten-remembered, harassment-violence. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 25(2), 228–235.
Hearn, J. (2019). So what has been, is, and might be going on in studying men and masculinities?: Some continuities and discontinuities. Men and Masculinities, 22(1), 53–63.
Heise, L. L. (1998). Violence against women: An integrated, ecological framework. Violence Against Women, 4(3), 262–290.
Hill, C., & Kearl, H. (2011). Crossing the line: Sexual harassment at school. Washington, DC: American Association of University Women (AAUW).
Hirsch, J., & Khan, S. (2020). Sexual citizens: A landmark study of sex, power, and assault on campus. Columbia, SC: WW Norton and Company.
Human Rights Watch. (2001). Scared at school: Sexual violence against girls in South African schools. New York: Human Rights Watch.
Jackson, S., & Scott, S. (2010). Theorizing sexuality. Maidenhead, UK: McGraw-Hill Open University Press.
Jewkes, R., & Morrell, R. (2012). Sexuality and the limits of agency among South African teenage women: Theorising femininities and their connections to HIV risk practises. Social Science & Medicine, 74(11), 1729–1737.
Jewkes, R., Morrell, R., & Christofides, N. (2009). Empowering teenagers to prevent pregnancy: Lessons from south africa. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 11(7), 675–688.
Jordan-Young, R. M. (2010). Brain storm: The flaws in the science of sex differences. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Keddie, A. (2003). Little boys: Tomorrow’s macho lads. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 24(3), 289–306.
Keddie, A. (2020). Engaging boys in gender activism: Issues of discomfort and emotion. Gender and Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2020.1716956
Kehily, M. (2002). Sexuality, gender and schooling: Shifting agendas in social learning. London: Routledge Falmer.
Langa, M. (2020). Becoming men: Black masculinities in a South African township. Johannesburg, South Africa: Wits University Press.
Le Mat, M. L., Altinyelken, H. K., Bos, H. M., & Volman, M. L. (2019). Mechanisms of adopting and reformulating comprehensive sexuality education policy in Ethiopia. Journal of Education Policy, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2019.1618918
Leach, F., Dunne, M., & Salvi, F. (2014). A global review of current issues and approaches in policy, programming and implementation responses to school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) for the education sector. Background paper prepared for UNESCO. Paris: UNESCO.
Leach, F., & Humphreys, S. (2007). Gender violence in school: Taking the ‘girls-as-victims’ discourse forward. Gender and Development, 15(1), 51–65.
MacInnes, J (1998) The end of masculinity: The confusion of sexual genesis and sexual difference in modern society. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Macleod, C. (2016). Why sexuality education in schools needs a major overhaul. The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/why-sexuality-education-in-schools-needs-a-major-overhaul-58176
McMahon, S., Stepleton, K., & Cusano, J. (2016). Understanding and responding to campus sexual assault: A guide to climate assessment for colleges and universities. New Brunswick, NJ: Centre on Violence Against Women and Children, School of Social Work, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
Meinck, F., Cluver, L. D., Boyes, M. E., & Loening-Voysey, H. (2016). Physical, emotional and sexual adolescent abuse victimisation in South Africa: Prevalence, incidence, perpetrators and locations. Journal Epidemiology & Community Health, 70(9), 910–916.
Merry, S. E. (2009). Gender violence: A cultural perspective. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Messerschmidt, J. W., Martin, P. Y., Messner, M. A., & Connell, R. (Eds.). (2018). Gender reckonings: New social theory and research. New York: New York University Press.
Mills, M. (2001). Challenging violence in schools: An issue of masculinities. Philadelphia: Open University Press.
Mkhwanazi, N., & Bhana, D. (2017). Young families: Gender, sexuality and care. Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press.
Moletsane, R. (2018). “Stop the war on women’s bodies”: Facilitating a girl-led march against sexual violence in a rural community in South Africa. Studies in Social Justice, 12(2), 235–250.
Moletsane, R., Morrell, R., Unterhalter, E., & Epstein, D. (2002). Instituting gender equality in schools: Working in an HIV/AIDS environment. Perspectives in Education, 20(2), 37–53.
Morrell, R. (1998). Of boys to men: Masculinity and gender in Southern African studies. Journal of Southern African Studies, 24(4), 605–630.
Morrell, R. (2001). Changing men in Southern Africa. Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: University of Natal Press.
Morrell, R. (2005). Youth, fathers and masculinity in South Africa today. Agenda, 30(8), 84–87.
Morrell, R. (2017). Touch rugby, masculinity and progressive politics in Durban, South Africa, 1985-1990. The Journal of the History of Sport, 34(7–8), 619–638.
Morrell, R., Bhana, D., & Shefer, T. (2012). Books and babies: Pregnancy and young parents in schools. Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press.
Morrell, R., Jewkes, R., & Lindegger, G. (2012). Hegemonic masculinity/masculinities in South Africa: Culture, power, and gender politics. Men and Masculinities, 15(1), 11–30.
Msibi, T. (2011). The lies we have been told: On (homo)sexuality in Africa. Africa Today, 58(1), 55–77.
Msibi, T. (2018). Hidden sexualities of South African teachers: Black male educators and same-sex desires. New York: Routledge.
Msibi, T., & Jagessar, V. (2015). Restricted freedom: negotiating same-sex identifications in the residential spaces of a South African university. Higher Education Research and Development, 34(4), 750–762.
Muhanguzi, F. K. (2011). Gender and sexual vulnerability of young women in Africa: Experiences of young girls in secondary schools in Uganda. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 13(6), 713–725.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2019). Together we can do better: A gathering of leaders in academia to prevent sexual harassment: Proceedings from a workshop-in brief. Washington, DC: The National Academics Press.
Paechter, C. (2007). Being boys, being girls: Learning masculinities and femininities. Maidenhead, UK: McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Parkes, J. (2008). The power of talk: Transformative possibilities in researching violence with children in South Africa. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 11(4), 293–306.
Parkes, J. (2015). Gender-based violence in education: Background paper for EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015. Paris: UNESCO.
Pattman, R., & Bhana, D. (2017). Learning from the learners: How research with young people can provide models of good pedagogic practice in sexuality education in South Africa. In L. Allen & M. L. Rasmussen (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of sexuality education (pp. 191–210). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pattman, R., & Carolissen, R. (2018). Transforming transformation in research and teaching at South African Universities. Stellenbosch, South Africa: African Sun Media.
Phipps, A., & Young, I. (2013). That’s what she said: Women students’ experiences of ‘lad culture’ in higher education. London: National Union of Students.
Pinheiro, P. S. (2006). World report on violence against children. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Publishing Services.
Porter, H. (2015). ‘Say no to bad touches’: Schools identity and sexual violence in northern Uganda. International Journal of Educational Development, 41, 271–282.
Posel, D. (2005). The scandal of manhood: “Baby rape” and the politicization of sexual violence in post-apartheid South Africa. Culture Health and Sexuality, 7(3), 239–252.
Ramaphosa, C. (2019). Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Joint Sitting of Parliament on the crisis of violence in South Africa, National Assembly, Cape Town. https://www.gov.za/speeches/address-president-cyril-ramaphosa-joint-sitting-parliament-crisis-violence-south-africa (Accessed 2 March 2021)
Ramaphosa, C. (2020). Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa on the occasion of International Women’s Day. https://www.gov.za/speeches/international-women%E2%80%99s-day-celebrations-ma%C2%A0-8-mar-2020-0000
Ratele, K. (2015). Working through resistance in engaging boys and men towards gender equality and progressive masculinities. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 17, 144–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2015.1048527
Ratele, K. (2016). Liberating masculinities. Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press.
Reddy, S., & Dunne, M. (2007). Risking it: Young heterosexual femininities in South African context of HIV/AIDS. Sexualities, 10(2), 159–172.
Renold, E. (2005). Girls, boys, and junior sexualities: Exploring children's gender and sexual relations in the primary school. London: Routledge Falmer.
Renold, E. (2017). Children are leading the way in tackling sexual harassment in schools. https://theconversation.com/children-are-leading-the-way-on-tackling-sexual-harassment-in-schools-73937
Renold, E., Ringrose, J., & Egan, D. (2015). Children, sexuality and sexualisation. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ricardo, C., & Barker, G. (2008). Men, masculinities, sexual exploitation and sexual violence: A literature review and call for action. Rio de Janeiro: Promundo and MenEngage.
Rich, A. (1980). Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence. Signs, 5(4), 631–660.
Ringrose, J. (2013). Postfeminist education? Girls and the sexual politics of schooling. London: Routledge.
Robinson, K. H. (2012). Sexual harassment in schools: Issues of identity and power—Negotiating the complexities, contexts and contradictions of this everyday practice. In S. Saltmarsh, K. H. Robinson, & C. Davies (Eds.), Rethinking school violence: Theory, gender, context (pp. 71–93). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Saltmarsh, S., Robinson, K. H., & Davies, C. (2012). Rethinking school violence: Theory, gender, context. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Scheper-Hughes, N. (2004). Parts unknown: Undercover ethnography of the organs-trafficking underworld. Ethnography, 5(1), 29–73.
Sexual Violence Task Team. (2016). “We will not be silenced”: A three–pronged justice approach to sexual offences and rape culture at Rhodes University/UCKAR. Grahamstown, South Africa: Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction.
Shefer, T. (2014). Pathways to gender equitable men: Reflections on findings from the international man and gender equality survey in the light of twenty years of gender change in South Africa. Men and Masculinities, 17(5), 502–509.
Shefer, T. (2016). Resisting the binarism of victim and agent: Critical reflections on 20 years of scholarship on young women and heterosexual practices in South African contexts. Global Public Health, 11(1–2), 211–223.
Shefer, T. (2019). “Troubling” stories: Thoughts on the making of meaning of shame/ful memory narratives in (post)apartheid South Africa. Social Dynamics, 45(3), 1–17.
Shefer, T., & Macleod, C. (2015). Life orientation sexuality education in South Africa: Gendered norms, justice and transformation. Perspectives in Education, 33(2), 1–10.
Shefer, T., Ratele, K., & Clowes, L. (2017). “Because they are me”: Dress and the making of gender. South African Review of Sociology, 48(4), 63–81.
South African Police Service. (2019). Crime Statistics. https://www.saps.gov.za/services/crimestats.php (Accessed 2 March 2021)
Spronk, R., & Hendriks, T. (2020). Readings in Sexualities from Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Statistics South Africa. (2020). Unemployment rate. Retrieved April 23, 2020, from http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications
Treffry-Goatley, A., De Lange, N., Moletsane, R., Mkhize, N., & Masinga, L. (2018). What does it mean to be a young African woman on a university campus in times of sexual violence? A new moment, a new conversation. Behavioral Sciences, 8(8), 67, 1–20.
True, J. (2012). The political economy of violence against women. New York: Oxford Studies in Gender and International Relations.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2017). School violence and bullying: Global status report (pp. 4–9). Paris: UNESCO.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2018). International technical guidance on sexuality education: An evidence-informed approach. Paris: UNESCO.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2019). Behind the numbers: Ending school violence and bulling (pp. 25–26). Paris: UNESCO.
United Nations Women. (2018). Guidance note: On campus violence prevention and response. New York: GSB Printing.
Universities UK. (2015). Changing the culture. The report of the Universities UK Taskforce examining violence against women, harassment and hate crime affecting university students. Retrieved April 23, 2020, from https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Pages/changing-the-culture-final-report
Vetten, L. (2016). Unintended complicities: Preventing violence against women in South Africa. Gender and Development, 24(2), 291–306.
Weaver-Hightower, M. B., & Skelton, C. (2013). Leaders in gender and education: Intellectual self-portraits. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
World Health Organization. (2015). Preventing youth violence: An overview of the evidence. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
World Health Organization. (2016). INSPIRE: Seven strategies for ending violence against children. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
World Health Organization. (2018). INSPIRE handbook: Action for implementing the seven strategies for ending violence against children. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bhana, D., Singh, S., Msibi, T. (2021). Introduction: Gender, Sexuality, and Violence in Education—A Three-Ply Yarn Approach. In: Bhana, D., Singh, S., Msibi, T. (eds) Gender, Sexuality and Violence in South African Educational Spaces. Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69988-8_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69988-8_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-69987-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-69988-8
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)