I was very privileged to attend a conference in Bangkok, Thailand, from 12th – 15th July, with my supervisor, Prof. Catriona Macleod. It was organised by the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society, and its theme is the title of this piece.
I presented a paper entitled “Gendered boundaries, recognition and desire: a pilot sexuality intervention with South African High School learners”, which drew off the research that I undertook for my Masters in Counselling Psychology degree in 2014-2015. Catriona presented a paper entitled “Girls want to be pleaded: the sexual ‘hustler’ blurring the lines of sexual coercion and consent”, which drew off data from a joint research project that Catriona is engaged in with collaborators from the HSRC. Both papers were well received and linked synergistically with other papers presented within our sessions.
The conference was well organised. We were a little disappointed in the quality of some of the plenary sessions. However, the parallel sessions more than made up for this, and we attended many excellent presentations. The majority of the conference presenters were from Asian countries, although there were significant representations from Africa, Europe, the United States and the Middle East. In total, over 40 different countries were represented. It was interesting to note the many commonalities that exist in problematic sexual/gendered/reproductive issues across the continents, primarily due to inequities stemming from patriarchal and/or heteronormative discourses: gender-based violence, unsupportable pregnancies, discrimination against minority sexualities, conflicts between conservative and liberal interest groups, and so on. However, it we saw regional particularities in the ways these played out. For example, child brides are common in India; researching and publishing on homosexuality in Ethiopia is exceptionally difficult due to the ultra-conservative legislation and culture of that country; female genital cutting amongst Kurdish populations is widespread.
We also got a taste of the Asian work ethic: on two of the conference days, sessions continued until 19h30 in the evening! It was a challenge to maintain our focus during these last sessions.
Thailand is not only an extremely beautiful country, but is also very cheap for a foreigner, and this meant that we could afford to spend a few days touring after the conference, which was a tremendous bonus to us.
I would like to convey my sincere thanks to Rhodes University and the CSSR Research Unit for enabling me to attend this stimulating conference.