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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Widows sex lives in AIDS era. The context of Zimbabwe
| Panel |
31. Sexuality and Politics in Africa
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| Paper ID | 695 |
| Author(s) |
Shiripinda, Iris
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | In Zimbabwean communities, the sexual lives of widows have been traditionally associated with either sexual abstinence or levirate relationships. The AIDS epidemic has brought a new dimension to the sexual lives of widows because the majority of the widows are within the most sexually active age group, 15 to 49 years, and they generally regard levirate relations as a practice of the past. Ethnographies of young AIDS widows in Zimbabwe tell challenging stories about widows' lived sexual realities in the face of traditional norms and discourses on female sexuality and widowhood. The paper focuses on the way widows seek sexual pleasure in a cultural environment that negates sexual desire, let alone pleasure, for widows.
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