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Women living with HIV in South Africa : discourses of 'normalisation' and femininity

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-150).

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Aulette-Root-Toyer, Anna
Other Authors: Boonzaier, Floretta
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Psychology 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author Aulette-Root-Toyer, Anna
author2 Boonzaier, Floretta
author_browse Aulette-Root-Toyer, Anna
Boonzaier, Floretta
author_facet Boonzaier, Floretta
Aulette-Root-Toyer, Anna
author_sort Aulette-Root-Toyer, Anna
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-150).
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10060
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:39:19.650Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Department of Psychology
publisherStr Department of Psychology
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10060 Women living with HIV in South Africa : discourses of 'normalisation' and femininity Aulette-Root-Toyer, Anna Boonzaier, Floretta Psychology Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-150). Sub-Saharan Africa has the greatest proportion of people living with HIV. As of 2005, 28.5 million people in southern Africa were living with HIV and 57% of them are women (UNAIDS, 2005). As the pandemic progresses, scholarly work is produced surrounding HIV but this still remains within the confines of the hegemonic construct of HIV as a biomedical problem. The literature does not reflect the fact that HIV is a gendered experience nor does it reflect the discourses of HIV produced by the women who are living with the virus. This study focused on uncovering the discourses of women living with HIV by conducting 15 semi-structured qualitative interviews with women living in a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. The research was conducted within a feminist framework and the interview questions focus on women's experiences of living with HIV. The interview transcripts were discursively analysed. The analysis focuses on the context in which the women were speaking as well as the language they employed. The discourses that emerged are: normalisation through men and work, the positive and negative effects of disclosure, taking care of men and children versus abuse, and bodily changes. The findings indicate that future research must take into consideration not only the dominant bio-medical discourses of HIV, but the discourses of the very women living with the virus. In addition, the discourses of women that emerge in this study indicate the need for the global restructuring of oppressive hegemonic systems that have exacerbated the HIV problem for women as well as men, if we are to see the end of HIV as a social problem. 2014-12-26T06:21:35Z 2014-12-26T06:21:35Z 2007 Master Thesis Masters MSocSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10060 eng application/pdf Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Psychology
Aulette-Root-Toyer, Anna
Women living with HIV in South Africa : discourses of 'normalisation' and femininity
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Women living with HIV in South Africa : discourses of 'normalisation' and femininity
title_full Women living with HIV in South Africa : discourses of 'normalisation' and femininity
title_fullStr Women living with HIV in South Africa : discourses of 'normalisation' and femininity
title_full_unstemmed Women living with HIV in South Africa : discourses of 'normalisation' and femininity
title_short Women living with HIV in South Africa : discourses of 'normalisation' and femininity
title_sort women living with hiv in south africa discourses of normalisation and femininity
topic Psychology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10060
work_keys_str_mv AT auletteroottoyeranna womenlivingwithhivinsouthafricadiscoursesofnormalisationandfemininity