“Sissy Bitch Boys”: Young Effeminate Men Challenging Heteronormativity in a South African Township

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which young effeminate gay men in South Africa resist the power of heteronormativity and its disciplining gendered expectations on their bodies, identities and social practices. It analyses both the everyday forms of power and violence that these gay men’s bodies experience in the context of a township, as well as their ability to resist, respond, and, to some extent, creatively dismantle this heteronormative power. The article demonstrates how young gay men—through being and behaving like “sissys,” “bitch boys” and “girly boys”—explicitly claim sexual visibility while seeking to creatively and agentically disrupt the gendered and sexual norms and expectations placed on them within their heteropatriarchal context. The data for this paper were drawn from semi-structured interviews with 12 gay effeminate young men from the township of Alexandra and conducted between 2020–2022.