Coming into sexuality: pleasure narratives and the sexual subjectivities of women in Cape Town, South Africa

Marais, Kylie Eve

Coming into sexuality: pleasure narratives and the sexual subjectivities of women in Cape Town, South Africa

Thesis / Dissertation

2026

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

ANS: Anthropology

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

Sex in South Africa has historically been shaped by race, class, and gender. Black women's bodies were eroticised, exoticised, and exploited, while representations of their (sexual) subjectivities were erased and silenced. These histories continue to haunt national discourses of sex and individual subjectivities. In educational curricula and public discussions, sex is framed around health and violence, neglecting sexual pleasure. Racialised women are portrayed as sexual objects, problems, and victims, rarely as sexual subjects. Shame and respectability further impact these women. Little is therefore known about women's sexualities and pleasure, including how “culture” shapes how they see themselves as sexual beings. This dissertation focuses on pleasure to critically examine how the sexual subjectivities of women racialised as coloured are constructed and constrained by historical and sociocultural factors over time. This qualitative study draws upon feminist narrative research and ethnography. To challenge dominant discourses of sexual risk and shame, the study introduces “pleasure narratives,” which emphasise sexual pleasure while acknowledging its complex connection to sexual health, violence, and subjectification. Interviews were conducted with fifteen (self-identified) coloured cisgender women aged 22-40 from working- to middle-class backgrounds in Cape Town. These interviews provided intimate insights into the women's subjective meanings and lived experiences of sex and sexuality. Autoethnography was incorporated and the researcher was included as a participant. Participant observation at sex-related events was also conducted to interrogate representations of pleasure in local contexts. The pleasure narratives revealed that women's sexualities are influenced by several factors: conservative and patriarchal cultural ideologies that perpetuate shame, silence, and violence; conflicting sex discourses and privileged access to pleasure-based discourses; and unequal sexual exploration. These factors constrained women's sexual subjectivities, leading to emotional struggles and disconnection from their bodies, sexualities, and partners. To assert their sexual agency, women learned to (cautiously and critically) navigate and negotiate these factors. This research challenges existing narratives of sex in South Africa and expands our perceptions of pleasure. It unveils the complexities of women's unspoken sexual realities and the possibilities of pleasure in empowering and reframing racialised women as sexual beings. The dissertation ultimately argues that pleasure matters, demonstrating its liberating potential.

Keywords

sexuality

South Africa

Reference:

Collections

PhD / Doctoral

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