Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
Cult Health Sex. 2012;14(5):477-90. doi: 10.1080/13691058.2012.667575. Epub 2012 Mar 26.
Ideals of masculinity and femininity may limit South African women's decision making power in relationships and increase their risk of HIV infection. We conducted 30 in-depth interviews with 18-24-year-old women in inner-city Johannesburg with the aim of understanding young women's expectations of intimate relationships with men, their perceptions of gender and power and how this influences HIV risk. We found that the majority of young women reported expectations of power in relationships that conform to a model of femininity marked by financial independence, freedom to make decisions, including over sexuality, and equality (resistant femininity). The majority of young women, however, were in relationships marked by intimate partner violence, infidelity or lack of condom use. In spite of this, more young women who subscribed to a resistant model of femininity were in less risky relationships than young women who subscribed to acquiescent models, in which power was vested in their male partners. Further, young women who subscribed to resistant femininity had more education than women who subscribed to an acquiescent model. The disconnect between expectations of relationships and young women's lived realities emphasises the need for structural changes that afford women greater economic and thus decision making power.
男性气质和女性气质的理想观念可能会限制南非女性在人际关系中的决策能力，并增加她们感染艾滋病毒的风险。我们在内罗毕市中心对 18 至 24 岁的女性进行了 30 次深入访谈，目的是了解年轻女性对与男性亲密关系的期望、她们对性别和权力的看法，以及这如何影响艾滋病毒风险。我们发现，大多数年轻女性报告了对关系中权力的期望，这些期望符合一种女性气质模式，其特点是经济独立、自由做出决策，包括性行为方面的决策，以及平等（抵抗型女性气质）。然而，大多数年轻女性处于以亲密伴侣暴力、不忠或不使用安全套为特征的关系中。尽管如此，与那些认同顺从型女性气质模式的年轻女性相比，认同抵抗型女性气质模式的年轻女性处于风险较小的关系中，在顺从型女性气质模式中，权力赋予了她们的男性伴侣。此外，认同抵抗型女性气质的年轻女性比认同顺从型女性气质模式的年轻女性受教育程度更高。这种关系期望与年轻女性现实生活之间的脱节强调了需要进行结构性变革，赋予女性更大的经济权力和决策权。
