An Exploratory Study of Male Adolescent Sexuality in Zimbabwe: The Case of Adolescents in Kuwadzana Extension, Harare

Abstract

Although young people in Zimbabwe are becoming sexually active at a very early age, there is no unified body of knowledge on how they regard sex and construct sexuality and relationships. In many circumstances adolescence sexual agency is denied and silenced. This study explored adolescents’ discourses on sexuality, factors affecting adolescent sexuality, and sexual health. Fusing a social constructionist standpoint and an active view of agency, we argue that the way male adolescents perceive and experience sexuality and construct sexual identities is mediated by the sociocultural context in which they live in and their own agency. Although adolescents are mistakenly regarded as sexual innocents by society, we argue that male adolescents are active social agents in constructing their own sexual realities and identities. At the same time, dominant structural and interactional factors have a bearing on how male adolescents experience and generate sexuality.