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Dancing with Dangerous Desires: the Performance of Femininity and Experiences of Pleasure and Danger by Young Black Women Within Club Spaces

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Dancing with Dangerous Desires: the Performance of Femininity and Experiences of Pleasure and Danger by Young Black Women Within Club Spaces Dancing with Dangerous Desires: The performance of femininity and experiences of pleasure and danger by young black women within club spaces Mary Gugu Tizita McLaren MCLMAROl3 Supervisor: Dr Elaine Cape Salo Town y of Submitted in fulfilment ofthe requirements for the degree ofMaster of Social Science Universit Department of Humanities African Gender Institute University of Cape Town February 2007 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town Plagiarism Declaration 1. I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is to use another's work and to pretend that it is one's own. 2. I have used the OXFORD- FOOTNOTE convention for citation and referencing. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in this essay from the work, or works, of other people has been acknowledged through the citation and reference. 3. This essay is my own. 4. I have not allowed, and will not allow anyone to copy my work with the intention of passing it off as her or his own work. 5. I have done the word processing and formatting of this assignment myself. I understand that the correct formatting is part of the mark for this assignment and that it is therefore wrong for another person to do it for me. Cape Town I hereby empower the University ofCape Town to reproduce for the purpose of research either the whole or any portion of the contentsy of ofthis work in any manner whatsoever. Universit Date 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the following organisations andfunds, that not only funded my research but also ensured that 1had shelter and sustenance; South African and Netherlands Programme for Alternatives in Development (SANPAD) National Research Foundation (NRF) KWJohnston Bequest Scholarship UCT Council B Scholarship With all my heart 1 would like to say "Mazviita Deidi" for strengthening and encouraging me! To Sis; Priscilla, VaDerek and Socks for keeping Cape me company Town in the last months, "Tatenda!" To my brother and sister! 1 smaak your characters, ek set y of Elaine Salo, you are foreverT",},.o"",,, a source ofknowledge and inspiration. And, thank you to the AGI staff. The gender class of200612007, you women are strong, intelligent andfun, keep on Universit"constantly negotiating" To myfriends, Kasamba, Vimbai, Danai, Veli and Georgia for encouraging me in your different ways that helped me throughout the year. LLV for being a support for me, makingIILLA:I1-L"'" me laugh and being amazing! To the "boys" for a/ways providing ways to help me relax andprocrastinate! And, thank you to anyone and everyone in my life, as you have all contributedr,nH,£>'n to this work! 111 Dedication For my gone forever mother, You will always be incredible to me. I hope you are proud... Smile down on us. Cape Town y of Universit iv Abstract This research was carried out in Langa Township, Cape Town and worked with 7young black l1,omen, between the ages of19 and 26 years old. The aim was to explore the fluidity ofidentity, in particular gender identity, by exploring the performance of 'normative' femininity and 'hidden/subversive' femininity performed in different spaces. The focus was on 'hidden/subversive' femininity and the experiences ofpleasure and danger in clubs spaces in Cape Town. It was found that these experiences centre on appearance, use ofalcohol and dancing and expose the way in which young women negotiate between the pleasurable and dangerous that, consciously or unconsciously, push the boundaries ofentrenched gender norms. In addition, owing 10 the nature ofthe research, constructions ofmasculinity were also explored and discovered to have a profound impact on young women's experiences within club spaces and in their everyday lives, relating to sexual relationships. This study aims to reveal the power and agency ofyoung women, as well as the struggles and restrictions. Cape Town y of Universit v Table oJContents Plagiarism Declaration 11 Acknowledgment 1ll Dedication IV Abstract V Introduction 1 Chapter One: Understanding History, Space and People 8 Chapter Two: Methodology 41 Chapter Three: "Good Girl/Club Girl": The Performance of Femininity" 64 Chapter Four: The Cultural Meanings of Identity and Space 84 Chapter Five: Up in the Club: Experiences of Pleasure Cape and Danger Town in Clubs 100 Chapter Six: Out of the Club, Back into Life 119 Conclusion y of 139 Bibliography 149 Appendix A: Table ofInformantsUniversit 157 Appendix B: Semi-Structured Interview Framework 158 VI INTRODUCTION It is Friday and the sun sets on Cape Town and the city streets begin to empty as tired workers head horne. As darkness falls life seeps back into the city. The streets begin to fill with the sound ofcars on the roads, laughter ringing in the air, heels clacking on the pavement and music saturating the atmosphere. Along Bree Street cars start filling the parking bays and the line at the door of Pata Pata nightclub grows longer and longer as the anticipation of the night ahead begins to mount. In high-heel shoes, tight jeans, cute tops, dangly earrings, mascara-ed eyes and perfumed bodies; the women are dressed to the nines. Most ofthem are a long way from their homes, not only in distance. Initially, they feel dislocated as they negotiate a shift in their performance of identity in this new and different space. The women corne from Langa, the oldest township in Cape Town, built to house the 1 black labour force far away from the white suburb of CapePinelands and Town those that surround it, in order to appease the fears of the white residents, worried that filth and disease will spread into their pristine homes. Today, almost 12 years ysince of the first democratic elections, Langa is a bustling place, almost all black and Xhosa-speaking, but diverse in class, age, religion and culture. The streets are lined with big double storey houses, small multi-coloured homes and tiny shacks made from a Universitvariety of materials. They exist on the margins of Cape Town, caught between their traditional beliefs and practices, as amaXhosa, and the Westem2 values and attractions. They exist in a time of change in South Africa, which many feel may have passed them by as young black South Africans. They exist in a space where one constantly has to I The racial category black refers to people who would previously, under Apartheid, be classified as African and Coloured is used in the same way, for people classified Coloured under Apartheid. These are contested terms and this is acknowledged, but necessary in that they enable one to name and distinguish the experiences of people that in South Africa are largely influenced by race. 2 By 'western' I am referring to the white population with South Africa that retain characteristics oftheir origins and European and US American influences, including African American. 1 negotiate the shifting notions ofpersonhood, ofwomanhood and manhood, of feminine and masculine. As young black South African women, they challenge these notions. As they find themselves in the queue outside Pata Pata nightclub, they consciously or unconsciously, challenge entrenched gender ideologies that dictate, through various means, the expected and accepted norms offeminine and masculine behaviour. As I show in this study, normative notions of feminine behaviour necessitate the idea of domesticity and respectability as acceptable ways for girls and women to conduct themselves in society. Domesticity means that female-persons should occupy the private space of the home and partake in household chores and responsibilities. By doing this, girls and women not only safeguard their own reputations but those oftheir family and community. By performing the part ofthe "good girl", a discourse powerful throughout communities around the world, the girls and women remain respectable. The epitome ofa "good girl" is one who inhabits the private domestic space and when she leaves her home sheCape does so in Townthe daytime, with respectable people to go to respectable places.y The of extreme personification ofthe "good girl" is one ofpurity, self-control, responsibility and passivity. The "good girl" does not indulge in the "bad" and "forbidden" activities ofdrinking alcohol, smoking, taking drugs and having pre-marital sex. Universit However, it is understood that few girls and women are able to embody the notion of the "good girl" completely. Indeed, notions of femininity exist on a spectrum, where women find themselves located at different points at different times depending on a number of various factors. As the young women walk up the dimly lit staircase, as the music gets louder and voices start rising, the women slowly shed their "good girl" fayade and don that ofthe "club girl"- a role that lies quite a bit further away from the "good girl" on the spectrum. 2 Nightclubs require a particular kind of cultural capital that manifests itself in the way one dresses, dances and behaves. There also exist particular expectations offeminine and masculine behaviour and interaction. It is for this reason that nightclubs were chosen for the exploration ofhidden/subversive femininity, as within these spaces there is a heightened performance ofheterosexual identities that impact in interesting and meaningful ways within club spaces and in young people's everyday lives. Hidden/subversive femininity refers to the performance offemininity that happens, concealed from parents/guardians and older members ofthe community, and that challenges the norms offeminine behaviour. These norms view women's alcohol use as taboo; see sensually provocative dancing as unladylike; believe that romantic and sexual relationships are illicit; and strongly discourage women's existence in and ownership ofthe public space.
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