Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Centre for the Study of AIDS, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Cult Health Sex. 2010 Nov;12(8):857-70. doi: 10.1080/13691050903471441.
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.
一种看法认为，这种关系主要是经济处于不利地位的年轻女性为了生存而采取的策略；另一种看法则认为，在这种关系中，性和金钱总是相互交换的。相反，我展示了实际上，年轻女性和与她们约会的男性可能主要将这些关系用于在同龄人群体中竞争社会地位，并将自己塑造为高地位、成功的现代主体。对于这些特定的女学生，以及她们约会的男性来说，易性交易往往不仅仅是性和金钱的直接交换。2006 年 8 月至 2007 年 12 月，在津巴布韦大学使用参与观察和深入访谈收集了民族志数据。本文主要关注 10 名参与或曾经参与过易性交易的女学生的经历，以及对 4 名在校园内“调解”易性交易关系的男学生进行的访谈。研究结果表明，考虑到易性交易发生的背景非常重要。易性交易有不同的形式，具有不同的意义，具体取决于其发生的地点。
