Sexuality in Media: Emerging Issues in Africa - Africa Regional ...

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Sexuality in the Media: Emerging Issues in Africa Appendix A Working Definitions: Sexuality, Sexual Health and Sexual Rights These working definitions were elaborated as a result of a WHO-convened international technical consultation on sexual health in January 2002, and subsequently revised by a group of experts from different parts of the world. They are presented here as a contribution to on-going discussions about sexual health, but do not represent an official WHO position, and should not be used or quoted as WHO definitions. Sex Sex refers to the biological characteristics that define humans as female or male. While these sets of biological characteristics are not mutually exclusive, as there are individuals who possess both, they tend to differentiate humans as males and females. In general use in many languages, the term sex is often used to mean “sexual activity”, but for technical purposes in the context of sexuality and sexual health discussions, the above definition is preferred. Sexuality Sexuality is a central aspect of being human throughout life and encompasses sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy and reproduction. Sexuality is experienced and expressed in thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviours, practices, roles and relationships. While sexuality can include all of these dimensions, not all of them are always experienced or expressed. Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological, psychological, social, economic, political, cultural, ethical, legal, historical, religious and spiritual factors. Sexual health Sexual health is a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity. Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence. For sexual health to be attained and maintained, the sexual rights of all persons must be respected, protected and fulfilled. Monitoring Media Coverage of Sexuality: an Introduction Sexual rights Sexual rights embrace human rights that are already recognized in national laws, international human rights documents and other consensus statements. They include the right of all persons, free of coercion, discrimination and violence, to: • the highest attainable standard of sexual health, including access to sexual and reproductive health care services; • seek, receive and impart information related to sexuality; • sexuality education; • respect for bodily integrity; • choose their partner; • decide to be sexually active or not; • consensual sexual relations; • consensual marriage; • decide whether or not, and when, to have children; and • pursue a satisfying, safe and pleasurable sexual life. The responsible exercise of human rights requires that all persons respect the rights of others. These definitions do not represent an official WHO position, and should not be used or quoted as WHO definitions. http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/gender/sexual_health.html
Introduction Writing as guest editor for the local “There is now acknowledgment that feminist journal Agenda, gender activist more often than not the media have perpetuated rather than tried to and senior lecturer Vasu Reddy recently challenge the gender stereotypes that asked: “How does one begin to render women as bodies without minds conceptualize sexualities in Africa in the and voices”. current context? What narratives T. Mtintso and C. Lowe-Morna, 2004 constitute sexuality in Africa? How are these narratives shaped, constructed, resisted and possibly reconfigured? Is there a coherent and homogenous narrative to what constitutes sexuality in Africa? How are sex and sexuality played out, performed, constituted, interrogated and configured?” (Reddy 2004). These are the pertinent questions that need to be asked if we are to achieve a proper understanding of how Africans are grappling with issues of sexuality, sexual health and sexual rights on a rapidly modernising continent. This report is intended to provide some baseline documentation for further study of media representation of sexuality issues in the context of Africa. It represents but a limited view of how sexuality issues have been covered and reported to the public by one source of communication (print media), during one short time-span (January to June 2004), in one African state (South Africa). In that particular country the demise of apartheid and the dawn of democracy in 1994, along with the growth of the HIV/AIDS epidemic throughout the 90's, has resulted in the thrusting of sexuality into public prominence in ways, which would have been unimaginable just a decade ago. When other parts of the world were sites of increasing liberal and often experimental sexual practices, as was the case in Europe and the United States during the 'sexual revolution' of the 1960'sand 70's, the apartheid regime in South Africa subjected sex and sexuality to heavy censorship and repressive policing. Obsessive in its determination to prohibit sex across racial boundaries, and, as Posel (2004) contends 'driven by Media Coverage Of Sexuality In South Africa typically colonial anxieties about rapacious African sexuality', the apartheid state accumulated an extensive armory of regulations and prohibitions to control the practice and transaction of sex, its public representations and performance. Apartheid legislation apropos sexual matters was grounded in the idea of a rigid separation between public and private spheres (Ross 1993). Sexual violence was typically not a site of political concern, unless the perpetuator was black and the victim white, in which case the public outrage was virulent. Sex across the black-white racial divide was forbidden, and miscegenation intensely stigmatized. Reinforced by laws, which criminalized homosexuality, a deepseated and widespread homophobia deterred the open expression or assertion of any sexualities deemed transgressive. Legislation prohibited the media from explicit depictions of sex or avowedly sexual conversation. Pornography was wholly banned; the public display of eroticised nude bodies (particularly male) was unthinkable (Posel 2004). With democratic elections in 1994 hailing the emergence of a 'new' South Africa, there has been a veritable explosion of sexual imagery, display and debate. Yet, these changes are not uncontested, and contradictions that appear in the media are often glaring. While issues of sexuality seem to have achieved an extraordinary prominence, this does not mean that there is widespread comfort or acceptance of their profile or substance. Indeed, Posel (2004) makes the point that the anxieties, denials and stigmas which persist in the midst of the new declarations of sexuality contribute directly to new sites and intensities of the politicisation of sexuality. It may be the case that government reluctance to take a clear and consistent leadership role in addressing exceedingly high rates of sexual violence/rape and HIV/AIDS in South Africa may be linked to historical discomforts with apartheid's stringent policing of sex and colonialism's obsession with a brutish African sexuality. Currently there is an abundant circulation of movies, magazines, and pornography, previously considered taboo. As is the case in many other liberal democracies, sex scenes in films and television are not at all uncommon, sexshops, massage parlours, escort agencies and strip clubs abound in most urban areas, and the pornography industry is amongst the fastest growing of industries. These trends have been accompanied by ongoing and highly visible AIDS awareness campaigns aimed specifically at 'getting people to talk about sex'.
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