). Attitudes and views on same-sex sexual behavior in Ghana
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Date
2013
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Publisher
Global Advanced Research Journals
Abstract
There is little research in sub-Saharan Africa on same-sex and other non-normative sexual relationships. In the era of HIV and AIDS which is mostly sexually transmitted in sub-Saharan Africa, and given previous authors’ findings regarding the HIV epidemic among black MSM across the African diaspora, we argue for focusing on the social implications of same-sex sexual behavior. Using evidence from Ghana and positioning our findings within recent scholarship on same-sex relationships in some parts of the world, particularly within African settings, we contribute to the body of knowledge on this issue. With 81 individual and group qualitative interviews from persons aged 10-80 years, we focused on the hostilities and prejudices directed against such non-normative sexual expressions. We also traced the historical and socio-geo-political trend influencing homophobic attitudes towards same-sex relationships from existing literature, pointing out that the current hostilities and branding of these behaviors may have been integrated into traditional views of sexuality in Ghana, with time. We concluded that there was a high level of stigma attached to same-sex sexual behavior by our respondents. We recommend further studies on the transitional histories of same-sex and persons who have sex with both males and females’ relationships and the cultural and related social contexts in which these have evolved and thrive
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Keywords
Sexual behavior, men who have sex with men (MSM, women who have sex with wome, persons who have sex with both males and females, homophobia, Ghana
Citation
Owusu, A. Y., Anarfi, J. K. and Tenkorang, E. Y. (2013), Attitudes and views on same-sex sexual behavior in Ghana. Global Advanced Research Journal of Social Sciences, 2(8), 176-186, August.