‘I just need to be flashy on campus’: female students and transactional sex at a university in Zimbabwe

To coincide with the 7th IASSCS Conference (15–18 April 2009) organized in Hanoi, Vietnam, a competition was held for the best paper presented by a new researcher. In this issue of Culture, Health & Sexuality, we have the pleasure of publishing the paper awarded the first prize.

Abstract

This paper challenges two common perceptions regarding transactional sex relationships particularly in Africa: that they are primarily resorted to as survival strategies by economically disadvantaged young women and that sex and money are always exchanged within these relationships. Instead, I show how, in reality, young women and the men they date may use these relationships primarily to compete for social status in their peer groups as well as to fashion themselves as high-status, successful modern subjects. Often, for these particular female students, and indeed the men they date, transactional sex often involves more than a straightforward exchange of sex and money. Ethnographic data was collected at the University of Zimbabwe between August 2006 and December 2007 using participant observation and in-depth interviews. This paper focuses on the experiences of ten female students who were, or had been, involved in transactional sex as well as on interviews conducted with four male students who were ‘mediating’ transactional sex relationships on campus. Findings suggest the importance of taking into account the contexts in which transactional sex occurs. Transactional sex takes different shapes and holds different meanings depending on where it manifests itself.

Cet article remet en question deux perceptions courantes sur les relations sexuelles transactionnelles, existant en particulier en Afrique: que les jeunes femmes économiquement défavorisées les pratiquent principalement en tant que stratégies de survie, et que le sexe et l'argent sont toujours échangés l'un contre l'autre dans ces relations. Au contraire, je montre comment, en réalité, les jeunes femmes et les hommes avec qui elles sortent peuvent s'engager dans ce type de relations principalement pour faire concurrence à leurs pairs dans la course à un statut social, ainsi que pour se percevoir comme des personnes modernes, brillantes et de statut élevé. Souvent, pour ces étudiantes particulières, et également pour les hommes avec qui elles sortent, le sexe transactionnel a une implication qui va au-delà d'un échange direct entre argent et sexe. Des données ethnographiques ont été collectées entre août 2006 et décembre 2007, à l'Université du Zimbabwe, avec pour méthodes l'observation participante et des entretiens en profondeur. Cet article se concentre sur les expériences de dix étudiantes qui pratiquaient, ou avaient pratiqué le sexe transactionnel, ainsi que sur entretiens menés avec quatre étudiants qui servaient de «médiateurs» pour les relations sexuelles transactionnelles sur le campus. Les résultats suggèrent qu'il est important de prendre en compte les contextes dans lesquels le sexe transactionnel se réalise. Le sexe transactionnel a plusieurs formes et significations selon l'endroit où il se manifeste.

En este artículo se cuestionan dos percepciones comunes con respecto a las relaciones sexuales transaccionales, especialmente en África: que sobre todo son chicas jóvenes con bajos recursos económicos quienes recurren a ellas como estrategias de supervivencia y que el sexo y el dinero siempre pueden intercambiarse en este tipo de relaciones. Más bien demuestro que en realidad las chicas y los hombres con los que se citan pueden usar estas relaciones sobre todo para competir por un estatus social con sus compañeros y para autocalificarse como personas modernas con un alto estatus social que han alcanzado el éxito. A menudo, el sexo transaccional muchas veces implica algo más que un simple intercambio de sexo y dinero para estas chicas estudiantes y, por tanto, para los hombres con los que se citan. Se recogieron datos etnográficos entre agosto de 2006 y diciembre de 2007, en la Universidad de Zimbabue mediante la observación de participantes y entrevistas exhaustivas. En este artículo me centro en las experiencias de diez chicas estudiantes que participaban o habían participado en relaciones sexuales transaccionales así como en las entrevistas llevadas a cabo con cuatro estudiantes de sexo masculino que actuaban de 'mediadores' en las relaciones sexuales transaccionales en el campus universitario. Los resultados indican que es importante tener en cuenta los contextos en los que ocurren estas relaciones sexuales transaccionales. El sexo transaccional adopta diferentes formas y adquiere distintos significados en función del lugar donde se manifiesta.

Keywords:

• young women
• transactional sex
• Zimbabwe
• Africa
• university students

Acknowledgements

Sincere gratitude to the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS) and the editorial team and reviewers at Culture, Health & Sexuality. Special thanks to Isak Niehaus and Mary Crewe for the mentorship. Special thanks to the female students discussed in this paper for their generosity. Sincere gratitude to the Ford Foundation for funding this study.

Notes

To coincide with the 7th IASSCS Conference (15–18 April 2009) organized in Hanoi, Vietnam, a competition was held for the best paper presented by a new researcher. In this issue of Culture, Health & Sexuality, we have the pleasure of publishing the paper awarded the first prize.

^1. Hipsters are basically any type of denim jeans worn at the hips rather than the waist and, at the time of the research, the ‘skinny leg’ and the ‘bootleg’ were the most popular designs on campus. Tank-tops, on the other hand, encompass a whole range of tight-fitting blouses, often made from fabric that stretches. They can be completely sleeveless, halter-necked or short-sleeved. Female students' fashion sense appeared to be influenced by two TV shows that they all watched regularly – a local soap called Studio 263 and the so-called ‘African Movies’. Ironically, neither comes directly from the ‘West’ (Leichty 2003). Studio 263 is screened daily and is filmed in and around the capital while African Movies are screened on the national television station and normally come from Nigeria and Ghana. In both, young women are depicted as highly fashion conscious and wear tight fitting jeans and skimpy tops.