OpenUCT :: Browsing by Author "Boonzaier, Floretta"

Browsing by Author "Boonzaier, Floretta"

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Open Access
Between/beyond the binaries: transgender youth in cape town re-present their experiences through photo-narratives
(2018) Pitcher, Sorrel Claire; Boonzaier, Floretta
Current literature about marginalised youth centres adult knowledges and perpetuates narratives of risk. Additionally, very little is known about young transgender persons within the South African context. Therefore, by making use of Photovoice elements, this narrative project sought to explore the lived experiences of transgender youth while simultaneously creating a space where they could discuss and re-present these experiences. The project aimed to challenge dominant narratives about transgender youth; youth gender and sexuality, and to expand transgender research in South Africa. This project also aimed to contribute to the empowerment of participants by positioning them as experts and centring their knowledges. The study was conducted in partnership with an LGBTIQ+ advocacy NGO and purposive sampling was used to recruit five trans-identifying participants between the ages of 18-26. In-depth interviews were conducted around what it means to be a young transgender person in Cape Town today, and the photographs participants took to represent these experiences. All data were analysed using thematic narrative analysis. The overarching thematic narratives that emerged were: ‘Navigating Identities’ and ‘Living within/out the Cistem’. Within these themes, participants drew on narratives of rigidity/fluidity, exclusion/belonging, and invisibility/hypervisibility respectively. The findings illustrate the complexity of experiences of transgender youth and thus demonstrates that young peoples’ lives are comprised of more than inherent risk. This project also provided an opportunity to critically reflect on Photovoice as a methodology for working with marginalised groups.
Open Access
Black lesbian identities, power and violence in public and private spaces
(2018) Stephens, Angeline V; Boonzaier, Floretta
This study examined black South African lesbian’s lived experiences of power and violence through a reading of the lesbian body as a site through which social identities and power are produced, maintained, contested and reframed. The analytic gaze was cast inward on intimate relationships as well as outward on the social and community contexts. Forty black lesbian women who were or had been in intimate same-sex relationships participated in five focus group discussions and 22 depth interviews. Discourse analysis, edified by a feminist poststructuralist theoretical paradigm that advanced an intersectional analytical approach, revealed that participants assumed multiple and ambiguous gendered subject positions, and vacillated between positions of power and powerlessness in various contexts. The enactment of gendered and sexualised violence on the lesbian body within intimate lesbian relationships, as well as in public and social spaces that also marked politicised and racialised spaces, reflected tensions and contradictions that may be situated within the historical juxtapositioning of colonialism and democracy. While black lesbian women generally exercised high levels of self-surveillance in order to avoid culturally and socially endorsed raced and gendered practices that served to regulate and punish black lesbian sexuality; the lesbian body represented a powerful site of resistance in which gendered identities and sexualities were reconceptualised and renegotiated in more fluid ways within the current historical period in South Africa. Within this reframing, black lesbian identity represented and embodied a personal and a political statement of identity and resilience which troubled and contested citizenship in democratic South Africa. This study has foregrounded the importance of considering the interconnectedness of the public and private domains, and the intersections of history and contexts in the enactment and experience of power and violence in the lives of black lesbian women. It has important implications for research, programme design and policy.
Open Access
"But sex work is good but I don't want to do it": Black men's narrative of selling sex
(2016) Peters, Simone; Kessi, Shose; Boonzaier, Floretta
Sex work within the South African context has become a much contested issue; with different perspectives emerging on the topic from various stakeholders. Sex work in South Africa, takes place in a complex context of poverty and lack of jobs, which plays a part in men's entry into the profession. While much research has been done on sex work, it has tended to focus on female sex workers, to the detriment of male sex workers. Male sex workers have been made invisible in the literature on sex work and their experiences are thus not adequately presented. This research however hopes to gain insight into Black men's experiences of sex work in Cape Town. Narrative interviews were used to investigate the experiences of 16 black male sex workers, from SWEAT, a Cape Town based NGO. All the interviews were analysed using a combination of an intersectional and narrative approach, to best understand the complexities and different factors that shape their lived experiences. Through this analysis, many complexities and tensions within male sex workers' experiences were found. Their experiences of entry and exit from sex work have and continue to be shaped by their race, age, socio economic status and gender. As men in this profession, they encounter many challenges and judgement, however being a man has also provided them with advantages not afforded to female sex workers. These findings are then discussed in relation to the existing literature and recommendations for future research and interventions are offered.
Open Access
Children's constructions of gender: A participatory project
(2019) Mohana, Malini; Boonzaier, Floretta
Studies on the construction of gender have largely focussed on adolescents and young adults in South Africa. This leaves a significant gap in understanding the ways in which gender is constructed and negotiated by younger children. This study, therefore, investigated how younger children narrate and experience their gendered lives, and whether these stories resisted or maintained dominant narratives of gender. Twelve participants between the ages of eight and fourteen participated. The research used participatory action research (PAR) methods. Specifically, Photovoice, journaling, collages and drawing were used to represent the stories and narratives that the participants chose to share. The Photovoice component culminated in a community exhibition which showcased the participants’ photos. In addition, the participants took part in focus groups and individual interviews. The focus group transcripts, individual interview transcripts, collages, photographs, drawings and journal entries were analysed using thematic narrative analysis. The study showed that children construct gender based on contradictory messaging, and exercise defiance of normative gendered constructs within the limits of heteronormative gender identity. Four main narrative themes emerged: Negotiating gendered expression; Normalisation of gendered violence; Subjugating female bodies; Narratives of conformity and resistance. Based on the findings, the recommendation was made to use play as both a means of exploration and education in children’s understanding of gender.
Open Access
The construction of masculinity in male students' talk on (heterosexual) rape in South Africa: a discourse analysis
(2013) Everitt-Penhale, Brittany; Boonzaier, Floretta
One in three South African women will be raped in her lifetime; the gravity of this issue makes investigating factors influencing rape perpetration a crucial endeavour. Drawing on a feminist post-structuralist framework, this study is based on the assumption that how masculinity is constructed in a given context may influence some men's sexually aggressive behaviour within that context. Six focus group sessions, each consisting of between four and six male university students (with a total of 30 participants) were held, in which the reasons for why some men rape in South Africa were discussed. Focusing on constructions of masculinity and heterosex, the data was analysed using discourse analysis based on the Foucauldian notion of discourse. The data was divided into three main sections, namely 'the Discourse of the Male Sexual Drive', 'Heterosex', and 'Masculinity as Power'. Consistent with previous literature, within the data the male sexual drive was constructed as being largely out of men's control, with men depicted as not being culpable for raping when they do not have access to consensual sex; when the victim is wearing revealing clothing; or when the victim is drunk. Heterosex was also constructed as having considerably different meaning for males and females, with a clear presence of the 'sexual double standard', in which men are praised for having sex whereas women are denigrated and seen as morally lacking. The rules of heterosexual conduct were also constructed as being mediated by culture, in ways in which it was argued ignore the individual rights and responsibilities of the victims and perpetrators of sexual violence. Having power was further constructed as the principle feature of masculinity, with rape being a means of attaining power. Therefore, men without access to power in other areas (primarily poor and/or black men) were depicted as being the most likely to rape. Rape was also seen as a response to women's empowerment, as well as a mechanism through which women that are "too proud" can be humbled, and was thereby constructed as a tool through which male power over women is maintained. It is argued that some of the constructions within the data are problematic in that they support racist, classist and patriarchal ideologies; often place the blame for rape entirely onto women, whose rights are at times ignored; and remove culpability from the perpetrators of rape. The findings of this study therefore demonstrate the importance of challenging accepted rape myths and underlying assumptions about masculinity and heterosex in order to address the issue of rape in South Africa
Open Access
A critical analysis of men's constructions of paying for sex: doing gender, doing race in the interview context
(2018) Huysamen, Monique; Boonzaier, Floretta
Men from all walks of life pay for sex in various contexts every day, yet we know very little about the ways in which men make meaning of their paid sexual encounters, particularly in South Africa, where sex work is both illegal and highly stigmatised. South Africa's apartheid and colonial past, as well as contemporary concerns about HIV/AIDS, further complicates and impacts on the social meanings of sex work. This study explores the ways in which men make meaning of paying for sex, and how they negotiate their client identities in relation to their various intersecting social identities, such as their gender, sexuality, race, and class. Indepth interviews were conducted with 43 men who identified as clients of sex workers, through face-to-face, Skype video call or instant messenger interviews. This study is designed to contribute methodologically to knowledge on cross-gender interviews. It employs a critical and intersectional form of reflexivity to the analysis of its particular interview-participant dynamic, where a woman researcher interviewed men about their sexualities. I argue that men's motivations for participating in these interviews - such as gaining a sense of libidinal excitement or thrill, the desire to confess their engagement in a sexual taboo, the assumption that the interview encounter was transactional, to engage in a power struggle, and the desire to have their emotional needs met - also provided insights into both what motivates men to pay for sex and how they relate to sex workers. The study highlights the importance of employing an intersectional approach to understanding men's constructions of paying for sex. It argues that, in order to manage the stigma that is associated with paying for sex, men drew on dominant racist discourses, tropes stemming from the colonial era, about the black body as dirty and diseased and the white body as respectable and clean, to negotiate desirable client identities. Moreover, it argues that men valued the client-sex worker encounter as a "safe space" where sex workers, whom they constructed as their experienced teachers, would teach them the sexual skills that they (felt they) needed to better approximate idealised versions of masculinity outside of the paid encounter. However, for some men, paid sex was not only a place where dominant discourses of gender and sexuality were reproduced; it was also a safe space where they could secretly explore and experiment with their sexuality, highlighting how paid sexual encounters might offer opportunities for resisting and queering the strict boundaries of normative heterosexuality. Finally, based on the overall findings of this study, I put forward suggestions for legislative approaches to sex work that respond specifically to the South African context and address the stigma attached to sex work.
Open Access
A discourse analysis of pro-anorexia webstie
(2014) Chen, Yihua; Boonzaier, Floretta
Anorexia has the longest duration (5-7 years) of any Eating Disorders (Crow, Mitchell, Roerig, & Steffen, 2009) and the highest mortality rate (≥10%) among all psychological illness (Arcelus, Mitchell, Wales, & Nielsen, 2011). The person finds himself or herself unable to stop because it has become one’s identity. Recovery is seen as a process of drawing upon alternative positions to the anorexic voice and finding the “authentic” self (Weaver, Wuest, & Ciliska 2005). In recent years, pro - anorexia websites have emerged over the Internet. These websites have been criticised by health professionals for glamorising anorexia as a lifestyle choice, promoting unhealthy behaviours and normalizing, validating and reinforcing the person’s anorexic identity (Gavin, Rodham, & Poyer, 2008). Influenced by post - structuralist feminist theoretical framework, the present study employs Foucauldian discourse analysis as an analytic technique and examines the texts on the pro - anorexia website, the discursive constructions of anorexia and the (anorexic) body. The analysis revealed that there is no “authentic” self to be found. B y challenging or supporting multiple discourses, pro - anorexia users form positive subjectivities. The findings of this research also highlighted the repeated utilization of “pathologized” categories to claim and declaim the anorexic identity, to empower themselves and resist socio - cultural control. Paying attention to the socio - culturally specific discursive context in which anorexia arises and the potential benefit of pro - anorexia websites for health professionals, it allows more effective therapeutic interventions for those experiencing anorexia.
Open Access
A discourse analysis of young adults' discussions of intimate partner violence in dating relationships
(2013) Barkhuizen, Lauren Ruth; Boonzaier, Floretta; Van Niekerk, Taryn
Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) has focused predominantly on the married or cohabiting adult population in South Africa;; however, IPV also occurs in young adults' dating relationships. The purpose of this research was to explore the discourses young adults at a South African university collectively drew upon in peer-group discussions on the topic of IPV in dating relationships. Six focus groups were conducted with a total of 31 students between the ages of 18 and 26 who were recruited through the distribution of flyers and posters advertising the study at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Foucauldian discourse analysis was used to identify 3 main discourses in participants' talk on IPV in dating relationships, namely the discourse of 'othering', the discourse of men's authority, and the discourse of women's responsibility. Related sub-discourses were also unearthed, which included the discourse of women as abusive, the discourse of men's sexual entitlement, explanatory discourses on IPV, and the discourse of love and violence. The identified discourses enabled students to simultaneously obfuscate and demonstrate the existence of IPV in the UCT context;; - to talk about IPV as a normal, acceptable and inevitable part of men's authoritative and sexually entitled behaviour in dating relationships and to talk about IPV as women's responsibility bound by constructions of love. Overall, this study has shown how dominant discourses of IPV and gender power inequity amongst young adults might encourage male violence and dominance, and women's victimisation and passivity.
Open Access
Discourses of masculinity and change : men's experiences of attending a domestic violence programme
(2010) Van Niekerk, Taryn Jill; Boonzaier, Floretta
Domestic violence research and interventions have aimed to empower abused women; however, there remains a gap in research on men’s accounts of their violence and of the programmes they attend. Because research shows mixed results concerning the effectiveness of domestic violence perpetrator programmes, this lack of clarity may impede efforts to rehabilitate violent men. This study investigated the discourses which men drew upon when talking about their experiences of attending a particular domestic violence programme in Cape Town, South Africa.
Open Access
Exploring Intimate Partner Violence Survivors' Experiences of an Intervention Programme at the Mosaic Training, Service and Healing Centre
(2022) Gray, Wai'oca; Boonzaier, Floretta
In the South African context, gender-based violence is related to a range of demographic characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status and sexuality, which contributes to varied forms of inequity. The lasting impact of Apartheid legislation, namely, the Group Areas Act, and the absence of fundamental resources in rural locations, has restricted the opportunities for black women from resource-poor rural areas to seek interventions for IPV. The aim of the study was to examine the way in which intimate partner violence (IPV) victim survivors talk about their experiences of an IPV intervention programme at the Mosaic, Training, Service and Healing Centre. This study is qualitative and uses an intersectional feminist theoretical framework and narrative research methodology. The sample of the study was women who have or are currently participating in the Earn to Survive IPV intervention programme at the Mosaic Training, Service and Healing Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. Unstructured face-to-face narrative interviews were conducted, and included questions which aimed to explore the way in which participants construct forms of identity for themselves through the process of sharing their experiences of the programme, participants' perceptions of the empowerment oriented focus of the programme and whether participants felt that the services provided by the programme were delivered in a way that promoted equity. Narrative analysis, in conjunction with thematic analysis methods were utilised to analyse the data. This study found that the participants benefitted socially, psychologically and tangibly-such as through the provision of grocery vouchers and transport fees- from their participation in Earn to Survive. This finding demonstrates the profoundly positive impact that IPV interventions have on IPV victim-survivors, and thus the importance of these interventions.
Open Access
Exploring women's experiences of abuse and communication within intimate heterosexual relationships in a low-income semi-rural community
(2008) Gardiner, Desiree; Boonzaier, Floretta
This study is a qualitative exploration of women's experiences of abuse and communication within intimate relationships. How women remain in abusive relationship is explained by how they construct and give meaning to the relationship. Strategies for surviving and resisting the abuse, women's perceptions of the abuse; as well as how they construct communication in the relationship, are discussed. Interviews were conducted with 15 women, who volunteered to participate in this study and self-identified as being involved with a physically abusive partner. All the participants were from a particular low-income, semi-rural community in South Africa. Narrative analysis, with particular emphasis on language and discourse, was conducted on unstructured interviews regarding women's relationships with their partners. Interview topics included daily problems, the presence of drugs or alcohol, communication between partners, and their experiences and responses to violence. Women described the different types of abuse they experienced; how they made sense of it; and their attempts to prevent the abuse from occurring. Women also constructed themselves and their partners within particular gender identities and cultural frameworks. The socio-cultural context provided a filter through which women understood their experiences of abuse. Dominant male and female norms were both adopted and resisted by participants, and expressed when women spoke of their interaction and communication with their partners.
Open Access
Exploring women's experiences of abuse and communication within intimate heterosexual relationships in a low-income semi-rural community
(2008) Gardiner, Desiree; Boonzaier, Floretta
This study is a qualitative exploration of women's experiences of abuse and communication within intimate relationships. How women remain in abusive relationship is explained by how they construct and give meaning to the relationship. Strategies for surviving and resisting the abuse, women's perceptions of the abuse; as well as how they construct communication in the relationship, are discussed. Interviews were conducted with 15 women, who volunteered to participate in this study and self-identified as being involved with a physically abusive partner. All the participants were from a particular low-income, semi-rural community in South Africa. Narrative analysis, with particular emphasis on language and discourse, was conducted on unstructured interviews regarding women's relationships with their partners. Interview topics included daily problems, the presence of drugs or alcohol, communication between partners, and their experiences and responses to violence. Women described the different types of abuse they experienced; how they made sense of it; and their attempts to prevent the abuse from occurring. Women also constructed themselves and their partners within particular gender identities and cultural frameworks. The socio-cultural context provided a filter through which women understood their experiences of abuse. Dominant male and female norms were both adopted and resisted by participants, and expressed when women spoke of their interaction and communication with their partners.
Open Access
"For that hour he is Mr Hunk himself" : men's narratives of buying sex
(2013) Huysamen, Monique; Boonzaier, Floretta
Despite sex work and its related activities being a criminal offence, it is an ingrained part of South African society. Street based sex workers can be found working on the streets of every city in the country; mainstream magazines feature articles about the sex work industry; newspapers generate an income through advertising sexual services; and there are a number of South African websites aimed exclusively at patrons of the sex work industry (Gardner, 2009). This project, guided by the principles of a narrative research approach, endeavoured to gain insight into the demand side of the sex work industry in South Africa. The project was based on in-depth interviews conducted with 14 male clients of female sex workers, recruited through advertisements placed on online classifieds websites. The study explored the meaning that men make of paying for sex and how being a client both influenced and was influenced by their broader social identities as men, husbands and fathers. The findings of this project repeatedly highlighted the striking connection between dominant discourses of femininity, masculinity and heterosexuality and participants’ explanations, motivations and experiences of paying sex workers for sex. These discourses provide men with a vocabulary to talk about paying for sex as acceptable and also allow for a social context where paying for sex becomes not only justifiable but also a desirable option for men. Through recognizing these discourses at work in our daily lives and through destabilising the notion of an idealized masculinity we can begin to better understand the demand side of the sex work industry in South Africa.
Open Access
Investigating the discourses women draw on to understand violence in intimate relationships
(2010) De la Harpe, Kim; Boonzaier, Floretta
The rate of violence against women by intimate male partners is extremely high in South Africa. Although violence against women has been researched from a variety of perspectives, little research has been done in South Africa on the discourses that women draw on to understand the violence. This research investigated how women in violent relationships make meaning out of the violence by examining the discourses that women draw on to understand the violence. Using feminist post-structuralist theory as the epistemological framework, a discourse analysis was conducted on seven in-depth interviews with heterosexual women who had been in violent romantic relationships.
Open Access
Investigating treatment strategies for adolescent rape survivors : a grounded theory analysis
(2009) Partridge, Nicolette; Boonzaier, Floretta
An evaluation conducted by the Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust (RCCTT) revealed that over 43% of their clients were teenagers, and a preliminary search of the current literature revealed a dearth of studies on the interplay between the developmental stage of adolescence and treatment of the adolescent rape survivor. This study therefore aimed to explore factors to consider when devising treatment strategies for this unique client group. Individual and focus group interviews with clinical practitioners, Rape Crisis staff members, and lay counsellors from each of the Rape Crisis Centres in the Western Cape, who had worked with rape survivors in this age group, were conducted, using an open-ended, semi-structured interview schedule. A grounded theory analysis of participants' experiences of working with adolescent rape survivors was then carried out. Patterns that emerged from this data tended to focus on basic guidelines that the practitioners' followed, the influence of the family and social systems on the therapeutic process, and the challenges that practitioners experienced in working therapeutically with these adolescents. This data was then combined with literature in the areas of trauma, adolescent development, and treatment strategies. The findings demonstrated that victimization in the stage of adolescence is a complex phenomenon that calls for maintaining a 'paradoxical position' by the practitioner, and that requires a multidimensional approach to treatment. On the basis of the findings, four broad categories, including 1) the stage of recovery of the client, 2) symptoms and behaviours present, 3) level of development the adolescent is functioning at, and 4) the influence of the system on the adolescent's healing, were suggested as starting points for planning interventions, and a number of treatment strategies that materialized from the study were discerned under these categories. Recommendations for future research were then proposed to further the body of knowledge in this field.
Open Access
Lesbian adolescents' narratives of identity : a participatory photovoice project
(2015) Zway, Maia Sarah; Boonzaier, Floretta
Lesbian identities in South Africa have largely been framed within a risk paradigm, with a focus on adolescents' experiences of homophobic victimisation in schools and black lesbian women being victims of 'corrective rape'. This framing of lesbian identities within a risk paradigm is problematic, as it erases the multi-dimensionality of lesbian lives and identities. This study aimed to shift away from a risk paradigm and allow young lesbian adolescents to represent their own lives and identities. This study therefore investigated how young lesbian and bisexual women chose to represent their lives and identities through the method of Photovoice, and how the stories they told challenged or maintained dominant narratives about young people of diverse sexualities. Fourteen black, Xhosa-speaking adolescents between the ages of thirteen and seventeen participated. Twelve participants identified as butch lesbians and two identified as bisexual. The study used Photovoice, a participatory action research (PAR) method. The participants were trained in photography and took photographs that represented a story that they wanted to tell about their lives, and created a written narrative (photostory) to accompany their photographs. They also participated in focus groups and individual interviews. The Photovoice process culminated in a public exhibition of the participants' photographic work. The focus group transcripts, interview transcripts, photostories, and photographs were analysed using thematic narrative analysis. Five main narrative themes emerged: Narrating 'tomboy' childhoods; Clothing as a symbol of identity; Negotiating butch identity; Constructions of safety, violence, and community; and finally Alienation and finding affirming spaces. Recommendations and implications of the findings are discussed. In particular, the findings point to the importance of the use of participatory methods with young people.
Open Access
Media Representations of Gender-Based Violence Against Black Women: A Decolonial Feminist Analysis
(2024) Thusi, Khanyisile S; Boonzaier, Floretta
Gender-based violence (GBV) is a well-known problem, with South Africa having one of the highest rates of GBV in the world. Additionally, South African media plays a role in how and what information about GBV is disseminated. This work looks at two case studies to investigate how the media represents GBV against black women in the South African context. It uses Decolonial Feminist theory to frame and contextualise current forms of violence against black women, to the colonial history of violence against them. This approach serves to call attention to the fact that GBV against black women does not exist simply as a problem of the present. Instead, there are narrative and physical continuities of the historical dynamics of power and domination against black women, that have founded GBV's present state, and which allow it to continue. These colonial narratives and the violences they perpetuate must be investigated in the various ways in which they may manifest themselves, such as through the media. This research draws to light the ways in which the media reinforces narratives that further marginalise black women, and in so doing, perpetuate black women and their bodies as sites of violence. The project explores how black women are decentred from their own stories and experiences of GBV, and how this decentring is normalised. It also seeks to further the work within Decolonial Feminism of conscientising society to the colonial legacies of violence perpetrated against black women. Finally, it poses questions concerning black women's positionality and safety within primary modalities of justice that exist within and from colonial structures of the law and criminality.
Open Access
The narrative accounts of recovering drug users
(2010) Adams, Chantal; Boonzaier, Floretta
This study aims to provide pertinent information regarding the widespread use of methamphetamine occurring in South Africa. This study explores how individuals who were addicted to crystal methamphetamine (CM) create meaning of their experiences of addiction and recovery.
Open Access
Narratives of sex work : exploring stories of entry, experience and meaning
(2010) Halland, Joni; Boonzaier, Floretta
Research into the reasons why sex workers enter and stay in sex work has largely viewed entry from perspectives of either choice or constraint. Choice perspectives attribute entry to reasons such as female agency and empowerment, and social and financial independence, while constraint perspectives attribute entry to reasons such as economic necessity, drug and alcohol abuse, childhood sexual abuse, lack of education and job opportunity, and homelessness and truancy.
Open Access
Negotiating masculinities : studying risk behaviours associated with performances of 'coloured' masculinities
(2015) Mthembu, Jacqueline Carol; Boonzaier, Floretta; Foster, Don
The overarching aim of this thesis was to study masculinity roles and associated risk behaviours amongst a group of marginalised 'coloured' men from two deprived communities, one urban and one rural, in Cape Town, South Africa. To achieve this aim, the research examined two broad questions. The first question asked: What levels of conformity to masculinity norms are expressed amongst a sample of 'coloured' men from two communities in Cape Town and how are these are related to their reported levels of gender role stress and risk -taking behaviours? The second question the study aimed to address asked: In what contexts are marginalised 'coloured' masculinities performed and how do these shape 'coloured' men's subjective ideas about 'what it means to be a man'. The study employed a mixed method approach involving a questionnaire design as well as focus groups to address the research questions. Three hundred men completed questionnaires consisting of demographic and risk evaluation questions and three measures of male attitudes, namely the Male Attitude Norms Inventory-III (MANI-III), the Masculine Gender Role Stress (MGRS) scale and the Maudsley Violence Questionnaire (MVQ). In addition, fourteen focus group discussions were facilitated with 108 of the 300 men to elicit deeper meanings of marginalised 'coloured' masculinities and men's understandings of masculine roles. The quantitative findings of the study revealed that most men reported mild endorsement of traditional masculine norms. At a univariate level of analysis, men who endorsed masculinity norms were more likely to report an education level of less than grade 9; more likely to report stress associated with gender role performance failure, machismo, acceptance of violence and hostile sexism. Hostile sexism, however, emerged as the only predictor associated with conformity to masculinity. A thematic analysis of the qualitative data revealed that performances of masculinity included displays of hostile sexism, the use of violence and risk-taking behaviour. Further findings show that marginalised 'coloured' men's performances of masculinities were shaped by their contexts which included high levels of poverty and deprivation, prevalent violence against women and high levels of risky alcohol consumption. The key contributions of this study includes the fact that this study discusses 'coloured' masculinity in terms of how these men attempt to accomplish forms of masculinities in a marginalised context. This dissertation also expands the research knowledge on marginalised masculinities by studying a group of men that have not received much attention previously. The thesis also makes a relevant contribution to existing knowledge as it presents a range of findings that add to research on masculinities, risk-taking behaviour, race, gender-based violence and marginalisation. The study showed the continued relevance of the Sex Role Paradigm to understanding masculinity roles and norms. Furthermore, the study contributes to the existing knowledge on masculinity measurements as it used the first local masculinity scale and provided a revised version of this psychometrically sound masculinity tool for use amongst marginalised men.

Browsing by Author "Boonzaier, Floretta"

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