Sexual Pleasure and the Construction of Masculinities and Femininities: Understanding Sexuality in Ghana
Keywords:
sexuality, women, men, sexual behaviour, belief, sexual pleasure, masculinity, femininity, GhanaSynopsis
Although sexual pleasure is an important aspect of human sexuality, we know little about how women and men construct sexual pleasure. Yet, understanding how individuals construct sexual pleasure is key making sense of how they perform themselves in relation to sexual practices. How do women and men portray themselves as active agents in sexual encounters as consequence of their sexual beliefs and symbolic interpretations and meanings of sexual pleasure? Drawing on the narratives of 20 women and 16 men aged 22 to 79 years in Madina, an urban settlement in Accra, Ghana, I investigate how women and men construct sexual pleasure in Ghana and highlight women’s sexual agency. Specifically, the study explores how sexual knowledge, beliefs and experiences inform the way women and men perceive sex and initiate sexual intercourse; notions of masculinity and femininity, and how they influence women’s sexual practices; and meanings of sexual pleasure, factors that stimulate women and men’s sexual pleasure, and how they are negotiated. Both women and men were constrained discussing sexual matters due to factors such as protection of privacy, secrecy and sensitivity. Media and friends were the main sources of knowledge of sexual beliefs and behaviour. Sexual experiences varied by age and sex but not by marital status or religion. Women believed sex should be guarded while men perceived sex as a declaration of their masculinity. Although men persuaded women to engage in diverse sexual practices, women used vagina to negotiate sex on their own
terms. Women were active initiators of sex. Although women framed ’proper’ masculinity in terms of stereotypical reproductive norms, they also acknowledged fluidity and multiplicity of masculinities. Femininity was more uniformly characterised in terms of physical attractiveness and beauty, responsibility, and reproduction. These features, especially those related to morally appropriate sexual norms (e.g., menstrual and bodily hygiene, unplanned pregnancy etc.), influence the way women engage in sexual relations with men. Meanings of sexual pleasure were direct and indirect and were symbolic (e.g., ejaculation, scream, and asking rhetoric questions during sex) based on subjective interpretations. Both women and men reported experiencing direct expressions of sexual pleasure, i.e. ejaculation. The experience of sexual pleasure was a product of sexual negotiation based on complex factors (e.g., eroticism, sex positions, and use of aphrodisiacs) and perceptions of sexual risk (e.g., fear of suffering an ill health). Although the women’s agency was expressed within the confines of masculinist ideology, women reported negotiating sex and sexual pleasure according to self-reflecting sexual choices. Therefore, dominant ideologies of masculinity are not threat to Ghanaian women's sexuality. However, the need to address issues that would make sexual pleasure seeking easier for women and men and the removal of barriers of fears is compelling.
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Abotchie, C. K. (1997). Social control in traditional southern eweland of Ghana: Relevance for modern crime prevention. Accra: Ghana Universities Press, pp. 10-145.
Addai, I. (2000). Religious affiliation and sexual initiation among Ghanaian women. Review of Religious Research, 41 (3), 328-343.
Adinkrah, M. (2012). Better dead than dishonored: masculinity and male suicidal behaviour in contemporary Ghana. Soc Sci Med., 74, 4, 474-81.
Adomako Ampofo, A. & Boateng, J. (2011). Multiple meaning of manhood among boys in Ghana. In S. Tamale (Ed.), African sexualities: A reader (pp. 420-436). Cape Town: Pambazuka Press.
Adomako Ampofo, A. (2004). Whose ‘unmet need’? dis/agreement about childbearing among Ghanaian couples. In S. Arnfred (Ed.), Re-thinking sexualities in Africa (pp. 115-134). Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute.
Adomako Ampofo, A. (2006). Intimate bargains: sex workers and ‘free women’ negotiate their sexual space. In C. Oppong, M.Y. Oppong, & I. Odotei (Ed.), Sex and gender in an era of AIDS: Ghana at the turn of the millennium (pp. 137-169). Accra: Sub Saharan Publishers.
Adomako Ampofo, A. (2007). “My cocoa is between my legs”. In S. Harley (Ed.), Women’s labour in the global economy: Speaking in multiple voices (pp. 182-205). The State University, USA: Rutgers University Press.
Adomako Ampofo, A., Okyerefo, M. P. K. & Pervarah, M. (2009). Phallic Competence: Fatherhood and the Making of Men in Ghana. Culture, Society & Masculinity, 1 (1), 59- 78.
Ahlberg, B. M. (1994). Is there a distinct African sexuality? A critical response to Caldwell. Journal of the International African Institute, 64, (2), 220-242.
Aidoo, A. K. (1985). Women in the history and culture of Ghana. Research Review, 1 (1), 14-51.
Akyeampong, E. & Agyei-Mensah, S. (2006). Itinerant gold mines? Mobility, sexuality and the spread of gonorrhea and syphilis in twentieth century Ghana. In C. Oppong, M.Y.
Oppong, & I. Odotei (Ed.), Sex and gender in an era of AIDS: Ghana at the turn of the millennium (pp. 41-58). Accra: Sub Saharan Publishers.
Akyeampong, E. (1997). Sexuality and prostitution among the Akan of the Gold Coast c. 1650- 1950. Past and Present, 156, 144-173.
Allman, J. (1996). Rounding up spinsters: Gender chaos and unmarried women in colonial Asante.
Journal of African History, 37 (2), 195-214.
Amidu, N., Owiredu, W. K. B. A, Gyasi-Sarpong, C. K., Woode, E. & Quaye, L. (2011). Sexual dysfunction among married couples living in Kumasi metropolis, Ghana. BMC Urol., 11 (3), 1-7. doi:10.1186/1471-2490-11-3.
Ammah, R. (1992). Paradise lies at the feet of Muslim women. In M. A. Oduyoye & M. R. A. Kanyoro (Ed.), The will to arise: Women, tradition and the church in Africa (pp. 74-84). Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Amoah, E. (1990). Femaleness: Akan concepts and practices. In J. Becher (Ed.), Women, religion and sexuality (pp.129-153). Geneva: World Council of Churches.
Anarfi, J. K. & Fayorsey, C. K. (1999). Male participants in the ‘commercialization’ of aspects of the female life cycle in Ghana. In J. C. Caldwell, I. O. Orubuloye & J. P. M. Ntozi (Ed.), The continuing African HIV/AIDS epidemic (pp.109-120). Canberra, Australia: Australian National. University.
Anarfi, J. K. (2006). Talking and deciding about sex and contraception in Ashanti Towns. In C. Oppong, M.Y. Oppong, & I. Odotei (Ed.), Sex and gender in an era of AIDS: Ghana at the turn of the millennium (pp. 169-172). Accra: Sub Saharan Publishers.
Appiah, K. A. (1996). “The pool”. In B. Morrow & C. Rowell (Ed.), Shade: An anthology of fiction by gay men of African descent (pp. 103-16). New York: Avon.
Arnfred, S. (2004). African sexuality’/sexuality in Africa: Tales and silences, in S. Arnfred (Ed.),
Re-thinking sexualities in Africa (pp. 1-188). Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute.
Assimeng, M. (2010). Religion and social change in West Africa: An introduction to sociology of religion (2ⁿᵈ ed.). Accra: Woeli Publishing Services. Pp. 7-243.
Atobrah, D. (2004). Children of dead mothers and ‘unknown’ fathers. Research Review Supplement, 16, 68-88.
Awusabo-Asare, K., Anarfi, J. K. & Agyeman, D. K. (1993). Women's control over their sexuality and the spread of STDs and HIV/AIDS in Ghana. Health Transition Review, 3, 1-14.
Babbie, E. (2005). The basics of social research (3ʳᵈ ed.). Canada: Wadsworth.
Bagnol, B. & Mariano, E. (2012). Gender, sexuality and vaginal practices. South Africa: University of Witwatersrand.
Bancroft, J., Loftus, J. & Long, J. S. (2003). Distress about sex: A national survey of women in heterosexual relationships. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 32, 193–208.
Bauer, M. W. & Gaskell, G. (2000). Qualitative research with text, image and sound: A practical handbook for social research. CA: Sage Publications. pp. 1-384.
Baumeister, R. F., Catanese, K. R. & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Is there a gender difference in strength of sex drive? Theoretical views, conceptual distinctions, and a review of relevant evidence. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5 (3), 242–273.
Becker, H. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance. London: Macmillan.
Bennett, J. (2011). Subversion and resistance: Activist initiatives. In S. Tamale (Ed.), African sexualities: A reader (pp. 79-100). Cape Town: Pambazuka Press.
Berger, P. L. & Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. New York: Anchor Books.
Biernacki, P. & Waldorf, D. (1981). Snowballing sampling: Problems and techniques of chain referral sampling. Sociological Methods and Research, 10 (2), 141-163.
Bizimana, N. (2010). Another way for lovemaking in Africa: Kunyaza, a traditional sexual position for triggering female orgasm at heterosexual encounters. Sexologies, 19, 157-162.
Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York: John Wiley.
Blumer, H. (1986). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Berkeley: University of California press.
Boahen, A. A. (2003). Yaa Asantewaa and the Asante-British war of 1900-1. Accra: Sub- Saharan Publishers.
Boswell, J. (1980). Christianity, social tolerance, and homosexuality: Gay people in Western Europe from the beginning of the Christian era to the fourteenth century. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Bryman A. (2008). Social research methods (3ʳᵈ ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. Butler, J. (1993) Bodies that matter. New York: Routledge.
Butler, J. (2011). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge. Byers, E. S. (2005). Relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction: A longitudinal study of individuals in long-term relationships. Journal of Sex Research, 42, 113-118.
