Gender and sexual health: a religio-cultural examination of masculinity in the film Yesterday.

Master of Theology in Religion. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietemaritzburg, 2017.The way that the South African society functions and operates in the post-apartheid era, and the engagement with gender and sexuality after apartheid has reveal an expanded understanding of gender and sexual identity, but also a marked increase in violence against women and assertions of new African patriarchies. Religion and culture promotes certain kinds of masculinity/ies which have an impact on women’s SRHR. The film Yesterday provides a scope through which to engage with masculinity/ies as it impacts negatively on women. The religio-cultural portrayals of masculinity representation found in the film presents the lived experiences of the women in the film and how these articulation religio-cultural articulations of shape their lives. This study is an interpretive analysis of the impact of religiously and culturally informed masculinity/ies on women’s Sexual and Reproductive, Health, Rights and Choices. The film Yesterday takes place in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where women carry the role of both mother and father, because the vast majority of men migrate to the cities in search of labour. Connell’s Hegemonic Masculinity and Chitando’s Redemptive Masculinities will be used as lenses to look at how the film opens conversations on issues in masculinity, men’s sexual behaviours, men’s sense of entitlement to their partners bodies, and the impact of this on the lives of women