Sistering and sexual socialisation: a discursive study of Xhosa women's sisterly interactions concerning sex and reproduction

• Published in: Culture, health & sexuality Vol. 23; no. 10; pp. 1406 - 1420
• Main Authors: Ndabula, Yanela, Macleod, Catriona, Young, Lisa Saville
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 01-10-2021; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Discursive psychology; Free association; Interviews; Middle age; Psychological safety; Purity; reproduction; Risk; Secrecy; Secrets; Sexual behavior; Sexual health; Sexual socialisation; Sexuality; Siblings; sisters; Socialization; South Africa; Women; Working class; Working women
• ISSN: 1369-1058; 1464-5351
• DOI: 10.1080/13691058.2020.1785551

Considerable research has been devoted to understanding and promoting parent-child sexual socialisation. Less attention has been paid to experiences of sibling interactions concerning sex. Drawing on discursive psychology, this study explores how women report interacting about sex and reproduction in their sisterly relationships. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted, using Free Association Narrative Interview technique, with five Black isiXhosa-speaking, middle-aged and working class women in South Africa. Findings show that the participants construct their sisterly interactions concerning sex drawing on three interpretative repertoires: silence; safety and secrecy; risk and responsibilisation. The silence repertoire constructs sex talk between sisters as vague and non-viable. Within the safety and secrecy repertoire, sisters are constructed as sharing sexual secrets and providing a safe space for sexual exploration. The risk and responsibilisation repertoire is deployed when understandings of 'proper' feminine behaviour and sexual purity are breached, with sisters emphasising the importance of avoiding risk and acting responsibly. Thus, alongside encouraging the expression of women's agency in relation to sexuality, sisters potentially join a patriarchal policing and the shaming of women's sexuality. These contradictory repertoires have implications for sexual health programmes and interventions targeted at family communication about sex.