Power, visibility and sexual and reproductive health in Southern Africa

Across Southern Africa, sexuality and reproduction are tightly bound together in the public imaginary. Prevailing gender hierarchies empower men over women and promote particular forms of masculine heterosexuality. Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services rarely extend to consider the interpersonal dynamics of sex and reproduction, and assumptions that reproduction is an essential component of women’s sexuality have shaped research agendas, policies and programmes. Much less attention has been paid to men’s health, except in relation to HIV prevention, treatment and care. These policies and programmes, by their focus and the power embedded in the discourses they utilise, occlude alternative identities, behaviours and values. We draw attention to how this impacts upon and affects people’s right to, and provision to support, SRH.