Abstract
‘Teachers expect parents to teach you. Parents expect teachers to teach you. So actually you learn nothing and nobody wants to talk about it’. This quote from this research study is an adolescent girls’ cry for liberation from the silence related to sexuality because of the general reluctance of adults to talk to them about it. Given the growing concerns raised about the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents in South Africa, the aim of this study was to conduct research with adolescent girls as subjects in order for girls’ voices to enhance adult researchers’ understanding of children’s need for support and guidance in the context of sexuality education. The purposively selected sample included 75 participants from three diverse high schools in the Western Cape. The research was conducted using a phenomenological approach that values the lived experiences of participants as significant in contributing to the knowledge on adolescent sexuality. A qualitative interpretative research design was applied to collect the data. This article argues that adults cannot help adolescents in their sexual emancipation – to be free – if they themselves are not free. If they were free, they would have been able and willing to engage with adolescents in every aspect, which includes their sexuality. Including adolescent girls as partners in transforming sexuality education is presented as a core principle for the sexual emancipation of both adolescent girls and adults.
Highlights
The phase of adolescence brings challenges with regard to sexuality and adolescents, and girls (Jewkes & Morrell 2012:1729) are at risk
Based on the empirical data gathered from adolescent girls, this article proposed to shed light on the question: how do adolescent girls’ voices enhance adult researchers’ understanding of children’s need for support and guidance in the context of sexuality?
The girls’ voices in this study indicated that when planning and implementing interventions of support towards sexual emancipation, it is imperative to include, listen to and http://www.hts.org.za integrate adolescent girls’ voices on how they are in need of adult support with regard to sexuality
Summary
The phase of adolescence brings challenges with regard to sexuality and adolescents, and girls (Jewkes & Morrell 2012:1729) are at risk. (Participant 14, school-going learner, Grade 10, female) This tendency is often coupled with a judgemental attitude; moralistic perspectives (what is viewed as right and wrong within certain cultures and religions) or fear is instilled to discourage girls to engage themselves sexually: Our mothers are telling us every day, ‘Please don’t do sex, it is not the right thing, it has consequences’. Girls indicated that they would prefer to be approached by adults in a direct, honest and open way and prefer these discussions to happen gradually, frequently (as opposed to once-off as is often the case) and within the context of a solid relationship of respect and trust that is free from blame and shame: But I think the mothers must talk to them from a young age about boyfriends and things like that. Girls voices’ did indicate how adults, to a certain extent, succeeded in meeting their needs, but it was minimal and an exception to a much broader rule where proper guidance from adults is often ignored
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