Browsing by Author "Lynch I"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Focus on ‘the family’? How South African family policy could fail us
    (HSRC Press, 1/03/2016) Morison T; Lynch I; Macleod C
    This policy brief draws on research projects conducted by Tracy Morison, Ingrid Lynch and Catriona Macleod with funding support from the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa; the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development; and the Ford Foundation.
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    Focus on ‘the family’? How South African family policy fails queer families
    (Unisa Press & Routledge, 2019-01-01) Macleod CI; Morison T; Lynch I; Morison, T; Lynch, I; Reddy, V
    The most policy document is the White Paper on Families, which aims to facilitate the mainstreaming of a family perspective into all government policy-making from the national to the municipal level and across multiple departments. The irony is that less than a third of South African families actually conform to the two cisgender heterosexual biological parent model that is favoured in family policy. South African research has shown that children of lesbian parents learn open-mindedness and to be comfortable with the family in which they live, and that men in same-sex relationships challenge gendered divisions of household tasks. Promoting the two-biological-parent family as the preferred family structure creates an impossible ideal for the majority of South Africans to live up to. Because such a family structure is strongly connected to class, it is out of reach for the majority of citizens, let alone those who live in queer relationships.
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    Gay men as parents: Analysing resistant talk in South African mainstream media accounts of queer families
    (SAGE Publications (UK and US), 1/04/2016) Lynch I; Morison T
    There is increasing visibility of dissident sexualities and genders in media debates about families, including resistant discourses that challenge delegitimising claims about queer families. There remains, however, a lack of research that assesses the ways in which discourses seeking to defend queer parenthood function to challenge or, at times, reinforce hetero-gendered norms. Families formed by gay men have generally received less attention, both in the media as well as academic scholarship. In this paper, we explore resistant discourses deployed in mainstream print media, attending particularly to news reports about queer fathers and their children. Through a critical thematic analysis of South African newspapers, informed by feminist discursive psychology, we identify four themes in resistant ways of talking: de-gendering parenthood, normalising queer parents, valorising queer parenting, and challenging the heteronormative gold standard. We conclude with the political implications of such resistant talk, as part of a project of transforming restrictive hetero-gendered norms.
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    Intimate partner violence in Khayelitsha schools: A Culture of silence
    (2018-03-31) Lynch I; Essop R; Tolla T; Morison T
    A team of HSRC researchers, partners and collaborators conducted research at 24 schools in Khayelitsha in the Western Cape to provide baseline data for a programme to address sexual violence in South African schools. They found high levels of sexual violence, including intimate partner violence. This was accompanied by a culture of silence.
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    Use and perceptions of public Sexual and Reproductive Health services: A quantitative situational analysis in OR Tambo and Gert Sibande districts
    (Human Sciences Research Council, 2016) Morison T; Lynch I
    This report presents the findings of a quantitative situational analysis of the use and perceptions of the quality of health care services among healthcare users in two districts, using survey methodology. The report was commissioned by the AIDS Foundation of South Africa (AFSA) as part of their three-year Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) programme. The study is framed within a Sexual and Reproductive Justice framework. This conceptual approach expands the rights-based perspective to consider wider contextual factors like socio-economic status, gender, disability, race, and sexuality as potential barriers to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). The primary aim of the study was to identify the key advocacy strategies and levers for change with respect to access to SRHR, identified from a situational analysis of selected facilities. These will inform the work of AFSA’s implementing partners. Survey methodology was used to ascertain people’s own perceptions and experiences of services in terms of access, quality, and satisfaction with general as well as SRH-specific services in the public health system.
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    'We can't help you here': The discursive erasure of sexual minorities in South African public sexual and reproductive health services
    (The British Psychological Society, 2016) Morison T; Lynch I
    Worldwide, sexual and gender minorities struggle to access sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. In South Africa, sexual prejudice is entrenched and pervasive in health systems and SRH services do not cater for a diverse range of people. Though health reform is underway, little attention has been given to how sexuality is being addressed in this process, particularly in the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme currently being piloted. We analyse interview data generated in an NHI pilot district, using discursive methodology, informed by a sexual and reproductive justice standpoint. We show how sexual and gender minorities are discursively in/visibilised in health settings and discuss these findings in relation to the social justice and solidarity aims of health systems reform.