Gender, materiality and culture: South African teachers’ accounts of sexual violence among primary school girls

Abstract

This article explores the role of materiality in shaping primary school teachers’ understandings of girls’ risk to and experience of gender and sexual violence in a rural setting in South Africa. Drawing from photovoice and semi-structured individual interviews involving nine primary school teachers, the article illustrates the entanglement of space, living conditions, economic deprivation with gender and cultural norms that heighten girls’ vulnerability to sexual violence. The findings point to teachers’ knowledge of the cultural and socio-material realties that produces girls’ sexual risk. Teachers drew attention to the poverty, child-headed households, family distress that increased vulnerability to sexual risk. Furthermore, teachers directed attention to the failure to report rape within families linking it to fear, shame and financial dependency on the perpetrator. The article concludes with reflections on the vital role of teachers in addressing sexual violence in a context where girls’ voices are often silenced.