'The real problems need to be fixed first': public discourses on sexuality and gender in South Africa

Abstract

An underlying premise of a 'democracy' is that a sense of well-being exists for the individuals who make up that democracy. In South Africa the more popular meaning of a developing democracy is a Constitution that protects people from discrimination on the basis of, among other factors, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, class and religion. Despite this progressive Constitution, the torture, rape and murder of black lesbians who live in South Africa's townships suggests that there is a lack of tolerance for persons who do not conform to particular and limiting ideas about gender and sexuality; ideas that are rooted in binaries of what constitutes acceptable femininities and masculinities. The intention in this Focus is to reflect how this specific form of heterosexist violence is not isolated to 'black township men inflicting violence on black lesbian township women. Rather, this violence should be understood as centrally located within heteronormative values, reinforced and reconstructed through a variety of state and media discourses that dominate the public sphere in South Africa. Unlike advocates of the State and mainstream media, feminist voices on the subject are predominantly situated outside of the public consciousness. Through a feminist engagement with some of these discourses I wish to motivate how heterosexist violence against gender non-conforming women in black townships becomes acceptable.