Exchanging Sex in the Bush: Navigating competing sexual norms among Makhuwa youth in northern Mozambique
Interventions aimed at improving sexual and reproductive health are often based on international discourse, rooted in biomedicine, science and reducing risk, while they contradict with ‘local’ notions of sexuality and sexual practices. Understanding these local notions and practices, and how they have changed through historical and development encounters, is necessary in order to develop effective interventions.
In the context of a small-scale NGO and the construction of an eco-lodge in al village in northern Mozambique, and by using ethnographic and participatory methods with a group of 13 local youth, this thesis explores how contemporary sexual practices of Makhuwa youth can be understood by relating them to tradition and perceived structural changes in the area, and how these changes have produced competing norms which youth navigate in relation to sexual practices. Tradition, formerly influenced by colonialism and Islam, continues to change in the present. Besides the promotion of contraceptives, the NGO aimed to increase education and disassociate a girl’s first menstruation and womanhood. Youth also reshaped tradition by making use of the way in which economic development and democracy are interfering with traditions of female virginity, the exchange of sex for material goods and parent-child interactions. These changes in sexual practices caused reality to be at odds with traditional norms. Both boys and girls have developed different strategies to navigate these competing norms.
The space created by these changes has led to an increased marital age, and an early sexual debut – also for girls. In a society where female virginity is a strong norm and contraceptive use is low, girl’s premarital sexual behavior becomes visible – in the form of teenage pregnancies -, and moralized. Furthermore, increased connectivity to other areas, have also made the area vulnerable to HIV.
Among the youth, the participatory approach created an awareness of the problems caused by the competing norms and structural changes. Participatory methods can be useful in analyzing and creating an awareness of the context in which behaviors are embedded, as well as in motivating participants to play a role in developing and implementing interventions which relate to their struggles in the sexual landscape.
Exchanging Sex in the Bush: Navigating competing sexual norms among Makhuwa youth in northern Mozambique
Interventions aimed at improving sexual and reproductive health are often based on international discourse, rooted in biomedicine, science and reducing risk, while they contradict with ‘local’ notions of sexuality and sexual practices. Understanding these local notions and practices, and how they have changed through historical and development encounters, is necessary in order to develop effective interventions.
In the context of a small-scale NGO and the construction of an eco-lodge in al village in northern Mozambique, and by using ethnographic and participatory methods with a group of 13 local youth, this thesis explores how contemporary sexual practices of Makhuwa youth can be understood by relating them to tradition and perceived structural changes in the area, and how these changes have produced competing norms which youth navigate in relation to sexual practices. Tradition, formerly influenced by colonialism and Islam, continues to change in the present. Besides the promotion of contraceptives, the NGO aimed to increase education and disassociate a girl’s first menstruation and womanhood. Youth also reshaped tradition by making use of the way in which economic development and democracy are interfering with traditions of female virginity, the exchange of sex for material goods and parent-child interactions. These changes in sexual practices caused reality to be at odds with traditional norms. Both boys and girls have developed different strategies to navigate these competing norms.
The space created by these changes has led to an increased marital age, and an early sexual debut – also for girls. In a society where female virginity is a strong norm and contraceptive use is low, girl’s premarital sexual behavior becomes visible – in the form of teenage pregnancies -, and moralized. Furthermore, increased connectivity to other areas, have also made the area vulnerable to HIV.
Among the youth, the participatory approach created an awareness of the problems caused by the competing norms and structural changes. Participatory methods can be useful in analyzing and creating an awareness of the context in which behaviors are embedded, as well as in motivating participants to play a role in developing and implementing interventions which relate to their struggles in the sexual landscape.
