TY - JOUR
T1 - Sexual health of adolescent girls and young women in Central Uganda
T2 - exploring perceived coercive aspects of transactional sex
AU - Kyegombe, Nambusi
AU - Meiksin, Rebecca
AU - Wamoyi, Joyce
AU - Heise, Lori
AU - Stoebenau, Kirsten
AU - Buller, Ana Maria
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to the Oak Foundation who, as part of the Learning Initiative on Norms Exploitation and Abuse (LINEA), funded the research upon which this paper draws. This work also draws on the work of the DFID-funded STRIVE Research Consortium. Neither the Oak Foundation nor DFID had a role in the study design, data collection procedures or analysis and interpretation of the findings or decisions to publish the results. The views expressed are those of the authors alone. We are also grateful to our partner organisation, the Uganda Youth Development Link (UYDEL) who facilitated and supported our access to some study communities and were also the referral partners for any young people who might have needed support. We would also like to thank the field researchers for their dedicated work to collect the data upon which this paper is based. We owe particular thanks to the participants in this study who were willing to share their views and experiences with the study team and without whom this study would not have been possible.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by Oak Foundation. We are grateful to the Oak Foundation who, as part of the Learning Initiative on Norms Exploitation and Abuse (LINEA), funded the research upon which this paper draws. This work also draws on the work of the DFID-funded STRIVE Research Consortium. Neither the Oak Foundation nor DFID had a role in the study design, data collection procedures or analysis and interpretation of the findings or decisions to publish the results. The views expressed are those of the authors alone. We are also grateful to our partner organisation, the Uganda Youth Development Link (UYDEL) who facilitated and supported our access to some study communities and were also the referral partners for any young people who might have needed support. We would also like to thank the field researchers for their dedicated work to collect the data upon which this paper is based. We owe particular thanks to the participants in this study who were willing to share their views and experiences with the study team and without whom this study would not have been possible.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in Uganda are at risk of early sexual debut, unwanted pregnancy, violence, and disproportionally high HIV infection rates, driven in part by transactional sex. This paper examines the extent to which AGYW’s participation in transactional sex is perceived to be coerced. We conducted 19 focus group discussions and 44 in-depth interviews using semi-structured tools. Interviews were audio recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis. While AGYW did not necessarily use the language of coercion, their narratives describe a number of coercive aspects in their relationships. First, coercion by force as a result of “de-toothing” a man (whereby they received money or resources but did not wish to provide sex as “obligated” under the implicit “terms” of the relationships). Second, they described the coercive role that receiving resources played in their decision to have sex in the face of men’s verbal insistence. Finally, they discussed having sex as a result of coercive economic circumstances including poverty, and because of peer pressure to uphold modern lifestyles. Support for income-generation activities, microfinance and social protection programmes may help reduce AGYW’s vulnerability to sexual coercion in transactional sex relationships. Targeting gender norms that contribute to unequal power dynamics and social expectations that obligate AGYW to provide sex in return for resources, critically assessing the meaning of consensual sex, and normative interventions building on parents’ efforts to ascertain the source of their daughters’ resources may also reduce AGYW’s vulnerability to coercion.
AB - Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in Uganda are at risk of early sexual debut, unwanted pregnancy, violence, and disproportionally high HIV infection rates, driven in part by transactional sex. This paper examines the extent to which AGYW’s participation in transactional sex is perceived to be coerced. We conducted 19 focus group discussions and 44 in-depth interviews using semi-structured tools. Interviews were audio recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis. While AGYW did not necessarily use the language of coercion, their narratives describe a number of coercive aspects in their relationships. First, coercion by force as a result of “de-toothing” a man (whereby they received money or resources but did not wish to provide sex as “obligated” under the implicit “terms” of the relationships). Second, they described the coercive role that receiving resources played in their decision to have sex in the face of men’s verbal insistence. Finally, they discussed having sex as a result of coercive economic circumstances including poverty, and because of peer pressure to uphold modern lifestyles. Support for income-generation activities, microfinance and social protection programmes may help reduce AGYW’s vulnerability to sexual coercion in transactional sex relationships. Targeting gender norms that contribute to unequal power dynamics and social expectations that obligate AGYW to provide sex in return for resources, critically assessing the meaning of consensual sex, and normative interventions building on parents’ efforts to ascertain the source of their daughters’ resources may also reduce AGYW’s vulnerability to coercion.
KW - Uganda
KW - adolescent girls and young women
KW - coercion
KW - sexual health
KW - transactional sex
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077785876&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85077785876&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/26410397.2019.1700770
DO - 10.1080/26410397.2019.1700770
M3 - Article
C2 - 31934824
AN - SCOPUS:85077785876
SN - 0968-8080
VL - 28
JO - Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
JF - Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
IS - 1
M1 - 1700770
ER -