Nigerian and Sierra Leonean young women, sex, and sexuality: a study in a prairie city in Western Canada

Abstract

Through an examination of how culture and cultural difference affect sexual norms and practices this thesis explores the sexual subjectivities of ten Nigerian and Sierra Leonean young women living in Winnipeg. The theoretical framework deployed in this thesis is the social constructionist approach to sexuality. This approach involves an understanding that social processes affect the meanings and performances of sexuality and will be deployed to underscore the varying ways Nigerian and Sierra Leonean young women develop sexual beliefs and practices enmeshed in dating and economic exchange, connections to “home”, pleasure, and the body. The methodological approach is ethnographic and uses focus groups, interviews, and participant observation. I argue that the Nigerian and Sierra Leonean young women’s sexual subjectivities are influenced by their social locations as straddling two different social worlds and sets of cultural and sexual norms. Media, race and religion influence these young women’s sexual subjectivities.