Growing Up Sexually

SOUTH AFRICA (Generalia)

Index → Africa→ South Africa

Featured: Kaffir, Zulu, Basuto, Tswana, Swasi, Bovale, Pedi, Thonga, Lemba, Xhosa, Xesibe, Tshidi Barolong, Venda, Fingo, Lobedu, Pondo, Zanzibaris; ®!Xo

A historical analysis was offered by (Erlank, 2003)[1].

In a black township near Pretoria, of 105 pre-marital mothers it was established that 20 per cent had engaged in sexual relationships before “puberty”; of these 105, 90% were forbidden to go out alone with boys, 82% were forbidden to go out alone in the evenings, 89% were forbidden to receive boys at home, and 51% were forbidden to go out in a group, all before puberty (Rip and Schmidt, 1977:p21)[2]. Attitudes on premarital sexuality were quite evenly divided. In one study (Du Toit, 1987)[3], the youngest age of coitarche was nine, and about two in three black schoolgirls had had coitus by age 15. In a study among rural Transkei adolescents (Buga et al., 1996)[4], boys initiated sexual activity at an earlier age than girls (13.43 vs 14.86 years, p=0.0000). To put these figures in perspective, menarche and semenarche occurred at 13.90 +/- 1.23 and 15.12 +/- 1.58 years. In a later survey among female university students (Buga, 1998)[5], subjects indicated having initiated sexual activity [intercourse] at a mean age of 17.27 +/- 2.18 years. A 1999 survey in South Africa among 796 adolescent girls in KwaZulu Natal, first sexual intercourse took place at a mean age of 16 (Manzini, 2001)[6]. Among 1063 sixth-grade students (average age: 13.6 years), 17% initiated sexual intercourse during the previous year (Klepp et al., 1997)[7]. According to a recent study[8], girls were generally thought to have sex at an earlier age than boys, although the estimated average age for them was only slightly lower than for boys (15.3 years for girls, compared to 15.7 years for boys). The lowest age was 7; 1% had their “first sexual encounter” under age 10, which paralleled expectations. However, a considerable expectation for sexarche at ages 11-12 (11% boys, 17% girls) was not met with indications about personal pasts (only 2% indicated sexarche in both categories). Only 1% indicated receiving information about “sexual health issues” from a “traditional practitioner”.

Girls in Johannesburg had only minimal sex education from their mother at menarche (Hellmann, 1935)[9]. This may not have changed much, as cited by Morrell[10]:

“There is little talk about sex between parents and children - and children fear beatings if they admit to being sexually active (Unicef/NPPCHN, 1997, 27)[[11]]. There is very little communication between parents and children. Mothers assume that when girls have boyfriends, they will be engaging in sex and send them to the clinic for contraception. But there is no talking about this (Unicef/NPPHCN, 1997, 74)”.

Chastity and modesty would be the highlights of Hindu children’s moral upbringing in South Africa (Kuper, 1960:p155-6)[12].

Pre-initiation sex and marriage are more punished than premarital sex and marriage (Jules-Rosette, 1980)[13]. In the past, “sex play without penetration (ukumetfha) was an established part of the relations between girls and boys, and the custom of regularly examining girls for virginity secured a measure of parental control. The latter custom has fallen into disuse, however, as has the custom of including an additional beast among the marriage cattle in respect of a bride whose virginity was intact” (Wilson, 1952:p95)[14]. In the Durban area, “The testing of girls generally involve[d] examination of the vagina by a teacher while the girl lies on the ground. A virginity test for boys involve[d] looking for lines at the back of the knees, inspecting the foreskin (which should be hard), and testing whether boys can urinate over a wire suspended 1 m above the ground. Testing occur[ed] in a public, ceremonial setting, with certificate[d] subsequently awarded to virgins by the All Africa Cultural Organization”[15]. Virginity testing is called ukuhlola, the normal procedure of which would be for teens to lie down on mats while a female examiner checks to see if their hymens are intact. Thornton (2002:p16)[16]:

“[…] there are specific institutions and places where sexual discourse is required and elaborated. In KwaZulu-Natal, the recent renaissance of formal virginity testing by older women, usually traditional healers, young girls gather to be examined by specialist who determine whether they are virgins. Wearing short traditional skirts only, they are led one by one to a healer who performs a vaginal inspection to ascertain whether the hymen is intact. If it is, the girl is given a formal certificate, signed by the chief and the tester, which states that she has undergone the test and was determined to be a virgin. Girls who submit to this test are also advised about sexuality during the examination. One tester, the traditional healer Makhosi Sibuko, also advises girls how to place their boyfriend’s penis between their thighs, rather than in their vaginas during pre-marital sex. Girls are also inspected for virginity during the vhusha initiation ceremony in Venda, Limpopo province, during which they are also taught elements of sexuality and sexual performance (Jeanerat 1997: 48)[[17]]. Boys initiation rituals in many parts of South are also instances where sexual knowledge is given and demonstrated by elders to juniors. This knowledge is, in all cases, considered to be secret, although it is an open secret”.

In contemporary adolescent sexual learning, an important role is reserved for mass media, especially TV and magazines, although friends also constituted a significant source of information[18].

Henderson (1994)[19], drawing from informal colloquia with Cape Town adolescents, found that parents generally do not welcome other-sex visits or stays at home, and sexual discussions with parents are avoided as a form of “respect”. Nevertheless, “[g]irls are sexually active, often from the age of thirteen” (p38).

Some data on childhood sexual experiences are collected in Gevisser and Cameron’s Defiant Desire[20] on gay and lesbian lives in South Africa.

A 1992 survey of 7,000 adolescents found that 17 percent had engaged in sexual intercourse, with a median age of 15 years at first intercourse (Cooper et al. 1994)[21]. According to a study of first intercourse and contraceptive experiences of 1,737 black South Africans conducted during their first year in a university (Nicholas, 1994)[22], male respondents’ mean age at first intercourse was 15.5 years and their partners’ age was 14.5 years old.

Hurwitz (1997)[23] argued that “[t]here is no literature or data pertaining to autoerotic behavior and patterns in South African children, adolescents, or adults”.

Focusing on adolescent black children and teenagers, Preston-Whyte and Zondi found that both boys and girls admitted experiencing sex before their 12th or 13th year[24]. Some had experienced penetration before they reached physical maturity. By age 13, most had been sexually active, if not regularly, then at least on a number of occasions. Full penetration was the rule.

The following findings regarding intrafamilial communication about sex in South Africa were obtained in 1990 from 1,902 black first-year students at a South African university (Nicholas 1991)[25]. Thirty-eight percent of respondents indicated that they had received no sex information from their mothers; 8.2 percent of females and only 3.8 percent of males indicated that they received much information from mothers. As expected, 65.5 percent of respondents indicated that fathers had given no sex information; 4.5 percent, 3.1 percent of males and 1.4 percent of females, reported their fathers provided much sex information.

Sixty-two percent of respondents indicated that they received no sex information at primary school, whereas only 10.9 percent indicated that they received no sex information at high school. Guidance teachers seem to provide much of the sex information at school, with 30.3 percent of respondents indicating that they received much information from guidance teachers.

Late 19th century South-African boarding school experienced the problems with this type of scholastic system as anywhere. “Initiation into the “under-life” of the reformatory could be through homosexual rape, while younger boys were soon drafted into service, sexual and otherwise, for older boys. Masturbation and homosexuality were common, while fagging, a common boarding school phenomenon, also appears to have been in practice […]” (Chisholm, 1986:p490)[26].

Despite the “repressive puritan stance towards adolescent sexuality” that came with the advent of Bantu Education in 1953, “[f]ormer primary school pupils claimed that their sexual biographies began fairly early in their lives. ‘Many primary school boys had sex’, I was told. ‘They were above thirteen and had already been circumcised. The girls agreed. They also enjoyed sex’ ” (Niehaus)[27].

[Additional refs: Swart-Kruger and Richter (1997)[28]; CRLP (2001) Women of the World: Laws and Policies Affecting Their Reproductive Lives: Anglophone Africa. Progress Report, p90-112]

“KAFFIR” / KAFIR (BANTU; SOUTH AFRICA; THAT IS, AMAZULU, AMA-SWAZI, AMA-TONGA, AND KAFLIRS PROPER, REPRESENTED BY AMA-XOSA, TEMBU, PONDO) 

After the seclusion of a Kafir girl at puberty she is allowed to cohabit with anyone during the festivals that follow[29]; Kafir boys after being circumcised may have connection with any unmarried females they can persuade[30]. Kidd’s (1906)[31] work on “Kafir” (Pondo) childhood appears void of sex.

Featured: Zulu, Basuto, Tswana, Swasi, Bovale, Pedi, Thonga, Lemba, Xhosa, Xesibe, Tshidi Barolong, Venda, Fingo, Lobedu, Pondo, Zanzibaris; ®!Xo

Janssen, D. F., Growing Up Sexually. VolumeI. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed. 2004. Berlin: Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology

Last revised: Jun 2005