Easier said than done: African male university students’ projections of masculine performances within (future) marriage

ABSTRACT

Marriage continues to be a fundamental institution through which sexual and social relations are forged. However, little is known of the ways in which young men think about negotiating their personal and relational identities within the formalised institution of marriage. This article focuses on African male university students. Theories of ‘power’ and ‘performativity’ are used to understand their projections of masculinity within (future) marriage. The young men’s gender role expectations, and the ways in which they plan to conform to and/or attempt to disrupt traditional patriarchal messages in their marriage goals, are explored. Gender power inequities in a patriarchal South Africa in which politically and culturally perpetuated social inequality are embedded, have been implicated in the high degree of interpersonal violence. From the projected roles as husbands and fathers that these men hold, many reject violence as a show of power. This is a positive indication of men questioning and reworking gender norms that condone and accept violence against women as normal. Their intentions to subvert the masculinities privileged by patriarchal gender discourses, and thereby redefine gender configurations within intimate relations in contemporary society, are viewed against perceived tensions with upholding traditional conceptions of gender roles. Men’s resistances are buttressed by the dominant heterosexual norms (which they feel they benefit from), leading to ambiguity in relationships.

Keywords:

• South African men
• university students
• marriage
• gender roles
• masculinity

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shakila Singh

SHAKILA SINGH is a senior lecturer in Educational Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pinetown, South Africa. Her teaching, research and postgraduate supervision are in the fields of gender and sexuality. She is currently the principal investigator on a National Research Foundation (NRF) funded project focusing on gender violence at university.