Winskell Kate, Sabben Gaëlle, Pruitt Kaitlyn L, Allen Kristi, Findlay Trinity, Stephenson Rob
a Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health , Emory University , Atlanta , USA.
b University of Michigan , School of Nursing , Ann Arbor , USA.
Cult Health Sex. 2017 Mar;19(3):366-380. doi: 10.1080/13691058.2016.1225820. Epub 2016 Sep 8.
Sexual minorities are stigmatised in much of sub-Saharan Africa, restricting their access to sexual health services and undermining their mental health. Although public attitudes and social representations inform the experience of sexual stigma, little is known about how young Africans make sense of sexual diversity. We conducted a thematic analysis of 56 texts contributed by young people from 10 countries in response to a prompt in a scriptwriting competition inviting participants to 'tell a story about someone who is attracted to people of the same sex'. We analysed accounts of the origins of same-sex attraction, a prominent theme in the narratives. Two-thirds of the texts provide an explicit or implicit explanation, presenting same-sex attraction as innate (15/38) and/or the consequence of environmental influences (32/38), including parental behaviour, gender separation, trauma, foreign influences and evil spirits. Expressions of the potential to avert or cure same-sex attraction are common. Young people's sense-making around sexual diversity draws on available sociocultural and symbolic resources, some of which may be highly stigmatising, and reflects local, national and transnational influences. The need to explain same-sex attraction and the preponderance of harmful explanatory frameworks compounds sexual minority youth's vulnerability to sexual stigma, harmful coping strategies and mental health challenges.
在撒哈拉以南非洲的大部分地区，性少数群体受到污名化，这限制了他们获得性健康服务的机会，并损害了他们的心理健康。尽管公众态度和社会观念影响着性污名的体验，但对于非洲年轻人如何理解性取向多元化却知之甚少。我们对来自10个国家的年轻人提交的56篇文本进行了主题分析，这些文本是对一场剧本创作比赛中的提示作出的回应，该提示邀请参与者“讲述一个关于被同性吸引的人的故事”。我们分析了这些叙事中一个突出主题——同性吸引的起源。三分之二的文本提供了明确或隐含的解释，将同性吸引描述为天生的（15/38）和/或环境影响的结果（32/38），这些环境影响包括父母行为、性别隔离、创伤、外来影响和邪灵。关于避免或治愈同性吸引可能性的表述很常见。年轻人围绕性取向多元化的认知利用了现有的社会文化和象征资源，其中一些可能具有高度污名化的性质，并且反映了地方、国家和跨国的影响。解释同性吸引的必要性以及有害解释框架的盛行，加剧了性少数群体青年遭受性污名、有害应对策略和心理健康挑战的脆弱性。
