Rehearsing or reversing harmful masculine scripts? South African men's romance narratives

abstract

In this Article we discuss the results of 42 in-depth qualitative interviews with young black South African men who self-identified as heterosexual and who reported that they were at the time of the interview or had at some time in their lives, experienced being ‘in love’ with a woman. South Africa, as is commonly pointed out, is in the throes of an epidemic of gender based violence. To declare oneself ‘in love’ potentially contradicts some of the core features of what Mogomotsi Mfalapitsa (IRIN, 2009) has referred to as ‘harmful masculinity’ and which he has argued is causally related to male violence against women. These features include emotional detachment, promiscuity, interest in casual sex rather than long-term engagement with a single partner, unwillingness to be ‘tied down’, the hierarchical ordering of gendered relations constructed as men's entitlement to women's ‘respect’ and the need to publically enact masculine heterosexuality. We are interested in whether, in these narratives, the research participants position themselves in opposition to these harmful precepts or, whether they confirm and reiteratively perform assumptions that can be construed as damaging to the prospects of generating more equitable, fair and loving relations between men and women.

Keywords:

• Romance
• harmful masculine scripts
• South Africa
• heterosexualities

Notes

1. See also ‘South Africa's macho society, Where attacks are the norm’ (A D Smith, The Observer, 17 February, 2013) and ‘Gender violence: Creating a new normal for South Africa's men’ (M Malan, Mail and Guardian, 22 February 2013).