Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) Collectionshttp://hdl.handle.net/10570/1872024-03-28T13:04:43Z2024-03-28T13:04:43Z"Abortion? That's for women!" Narratives and experiences of commercial motorbike riders in South-Western Uganda.Nyanzi, StellaNyanzi, BarbaraKalina, Bessiehttp://hdl.handle.net/10570/41062018-06-20T00:14:09Z2005-01-01T00:00:00Z"Abortion? That's for women!" Narratives and experiences of commercial motorbike riders in South-Western Uganda.
Nyanzi, Stella; Nyanzi, Barbara; Kalina, Bessie
Although constitutionally illegal, induced abortion is a vital reproductive health option in Uganda. This paper analyses men's narratives about meanings of, and experiences with, abortion. Men play significant roles in abortion as instigators, facilitators, collaborators, transporters, advisors, informers, supporters or punishment givers. Many participants were knowledgeable about abortion. Attitudes were ambivalent, with initial reactions of denial and relegation of abortion to women's private domains. Further exploration, however, revealed active support and involvement of men. Interpretations of abortion ranged from 'dependable saviour' to 'deceptive sin'. Though a private action, abortion is socially scripted and often collectively determined by wider social networks of kinsmen, the community, peers, law and religion. A disjuncture exists between dominant public health discourse and the reality of local men who interact with women and girls as wives, lovers, sex sellers, mothers, daughters and sisters. Interventions targeting men about abortion should include safe sex education, provide safe abortion services and create stronger social support mechanisms. Policy and law should incorporate local knowledge and practice.
2005-01-01T00:00:00ZThe adventures of the Randy Professor and Angela the sugar mummy: Sex in fictional serials in Ugandan popular magazines.Gysels, MarjoleinPool, RobertNyanzi, Stellahttp://hdl.handle.net/10570/41092018-06-20T00:18:26Z2005-01-01T00:00:00ZThe adventures of the Randy Professor and Angela the sugar mummy: Sex in fictional serials in Ugandan popular magazines.
Gysels, Marjolein; Pool, Robert; Nyanzi, Stella
In 1996 newspaper vendors in Ugandan towns started selling a new kind of locally produced ‘lifestyle’ magazine. On the covers there were young, scantily dressed girls and inside news articles, fictional serials, lifestyle articles, agony aunt columns, etc. The new magazines gained an enormous popularity in a short space of time. Everywhere people were seen reading them and copies became brown and tattered from use. Using content analysis, we analyse the fictional serials which appeared in three of these magazines. We focus on these because they were the most sexually explicit type of content and, from a public health perspective, the most relevant with regard to HIV prevention. The stories were presented as simple entertainment, depicting the adventures of stereotypical characters. They provided people with explicit and unrestricted sexual fantasy which was, at the same time, devoid of any real risk. Although they could be interpreted as providing a discourse which challenged the main messages of HIV-prevention campaigns (sex is good for you, have as much of it as possible, and don't let condoms spoil the enjoyment), they also suggest that behaviour change may be more popular if sex and sexual health are not separated from sexual pleasure, and safe sex is promoted from a positive perspective (emphasis on sexual enjoyment) rather than a negative one (prevention of disease). The popularity of the magazines underscores the importance of entertainment value when discussing sex, and suggests alternative possibilities for disseminating health messages. Illustrated popular magazines such as those discussed here could be suitable as intervention, though they would need some adaptation to counter gender stereotypes and sexual violence.
2005-01-01T00:00:00Z'African sex is dangerous!' Renegotiating 'ritual sex' in contemporary Masaka district.Nyanzi, StellaNassimbwa, JustineKayizzi, VincentKabanda, Strivanhttp://hdl.handle.net/10570/41022018-06-20T00:20:03Z2008-01-01T00:00:00Z'African sex is dangerous!' Renegotiating 'ritual sex' in contemporary Masaka district.
Nyanzi, Stella; Nassimbwa, Justine; Kayizzi, Vincent; Kabanda, Strivan
The sexual culture of sub-Saharan African peoples is variously utilized as an explanation for the high incidence of HIV in Africa. Thus it has been the target of behaviour change campaigns championed by massive public health education. Based on ethnographic fieldwork (using participant observation, individual interviews, focus group discussions, and a survey) in Masaka District, this article contests a reified, homogeneous and ethnocentric sexualizing of Africans. It engages with how prescribed ritual sex practices are (re)negotiated, contested, affirmed, policed, revised and given meaning within the context of a society living with HIV/AIDS. Among Baganda, sex is customarily a vital component for ‘completing’ individual prosperity, kin-group equilibrium and social cohesion. Various forms of prescribed customary sexual activities range from penetrative sex interaction between penis and vagina, to symbolic performances such as (male) jumping over women's legs or (female) wearing of special belts. Unlike portrayals of customary sex activities in anti-HIV/AIDS discourse, the notion of ‘dangerous sex’ and the fear of contagion are not typical of all ritual sex practices in Masaka. Akin to Christianity, colonialism, colonial medicine and modernizing discourses, anti-HIV/AIDS campaigns are the contemporary social policemen for sex, sexuality and sexual behaviour. In this regard, public health discourse in Uganda is pathologizing the mundane aspects of customary practices. The HIV/AIDS metaphor is variously utilized by Baganda to negotiate whether or not to engage in specific ritual sex activities.
2008-01-01T00:00:00ZAmbivalence surrounding elderly widows’ sexuality in urban Uganda.Nyanzi, Stellahttp://hdl.handle.net/10570/40972018-06-20T00:25:47Z2011-01-01T00:00:00ZAmbivalence surrounding elderly widows’ sexuality in urban Uganda.
Nyanzi, Stella
The elderly are commonly stereotyped as asexual beings. Alternatively mainly negative images abound about the sexual activities of elderly people. Based on ethnographic data this article explores diverse sexualities of elderly widows and widowers in an urban periphery of Kampala city. Widowhood is socially constructed as an asexual period in this patriarchal society where heteronormativity and marriage prevail as the accepted norms. While widowers are generally encouraged to remarry after observing proprieties of mourning, sexual activity among elderly widows is heavily proscribed against particularly because it is not procreative. Adult children control the sexuality of their elderly parents, often by discouraging sexual liaisons. Adult children may also arrange for new spouses with utilitarian value such as providing healthcare for ill elders. Post-menopausal widows have less sexual appeal than younger widows for whom reproduction is a viable outcome of sexuality. Widowers and younger widows are more likely to remarry than elderly widows. Consequently for some older widows, the cultural institution of widow inheritance provides an opportunity to resume sexual activity, and benefit from the levirate guardian’s support. However other older widows rejected inheritance by levirate guardians because of fears of catching HIV/AIDS. HIV does infect elderly Ugandans, although prevention and care interventions generally exclude targeting the elderly. Loneliness was widespread among elderly widows. Many felt isolated, dislocated from former social circulation and missed being relevant. However there were a few elderly individuals who were actively engaged in providing sexual education, advocating for sexual health promotion, and defending the sexual rights of the younger generations in their immediate environs. There is an urgent need for more research about the realities of elderly people’s sexualities, sexual health and sexual rights particularly in resource-poor contexts.
2011-01-01T00:00:00Z