South African male university students’ perspectives on gender norms concerning alcohol and related harmful behaviours towards female drinkers

Abstract

High rates of gender violence in South Africa, including those in higher education institutions, have prompted considerable research into understanding its causes. Studies focusing on gender and sexual risk at universities have found alcohol to be a significant contributor to gender violence. In this study, I analyse alcohol-related gender violence against female drinkers from the perspectives of male students. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with ten undergraduate male students at a university residence. Findings reveal that alcohol is seen as a masculine privilege. Male students explain that men use alcohol to give them the courage to enact hegemonic heterosexual masculinities. While they see alcohol as a tool to enhance men’s capacity to control women, they simultaneously attribute blame to alcohol for men’s loss of control over their behaviour. Alcohol is also exploited as currency to coerce women into submission to sexual favours. When male students blame alcohol for any deviant behaviour, men’s culpability in the violation of female students remains hidden. Violence prevention efforts in educational contexts must address the ways in which alcohol shapes students’ experience of gender, sexuality and violence.