“Don’t You Think It Is Violence Forcing Me to Have Sex While Not Happy?” Women’s Conceptualization of Enjoyable Sex and Sexual Intimate Partner Violence in Mwanza, Tanzania

Abstract

Intimate partner violence is a recognized public health and development issue that is consistently and comparatively measured through women’s experience of physical and/or sexual acts by their partner. While physical intimate partner violence is covered by a wide range of behaviors, sexual intimate partner violence (SIPV) is often only measured through attempted or completed forced sex, ignoring less obvious forms of sexual intimate partner violence. We explored women’s conceptualizations of SIPV by conducting in-depth interviews with 18 Tanzanian women. Using a thematic approach, we identified key features of women’s sexual intimate relationships and their perceptions of them. The women clearly defined acts of positive sexual relationships that occurred with mutual consent and seduction and SIPV that included acts of forced sex and sex under the threat of violence. They also identified several acts that were crossing the line, whereby a discrepancy of views existed whether they constituted SIPV, such as having sex when out of the mood, sex being the duty of the wife, sex during the menses, requests for anal sex, having sex to not lose the husband, husband refusing sex and husband having other partners. Women in this study felt violated by a far wider range of sexual acts in their relationships. Future studies need to improve the measurement of sexual intimate partner violence to allow the collection of encompassing, yet comparable, data on this harmful phenomenon.

Women’s Narratives about COVID-19, Preventive Practices and Sources of Information in Northwestern Tanzania

“…Data was collected between July and September 2020. The recruitment procedures of the participants involved in this study has been described in detail elsewhere [ 10 , 11 ], but in summary, a total of 18 women aged 27 to 57 years were purposively selected to participate in qualitative telephone in-depth interviews. These women were selected from 85 women participating in the longitudinal mixed methods MAISHA study [ 12 ] who reported changes in their experiences of sexual intimate partner violence between the baseline and endline survey of the MAISHA trial.…”

Men’s Reflections on Romantic Jealousy and Intimate Partner Violence in Mwanza, Tanzania

“…In communities still subscribing to patriarchal ideals, men exercise more power and may resort to violence to enforce their authority (Howard-Merrill et al, 2022;Manji, 2018). In such settings, gender norms prescribe that women should acquiesce to her male partner's sex urges with the only exception being that they are sick or having their menstrual periods (Mchome et al, 2020). Also, women are expected to be faithful to their partners while it is the norm for men to have multiple sexual relationships.…”

“…Although romantic jealousy is present across all cultures and societies, it is highly dependent on the context in its interpretation ( Buss, 2013 ). It can lead to the loss of self-control, especially when partners who suspect or confirm infidelity are unable to regulate their emotions and reactions ( Mužinić et al, 2003 ). On the other hand, romantic jealousy is also often interpreted by men and women in relationships as an expression of love, and a sign that a partner cares about the other and the relationship ( Boyce et al, 2016 ).…”

Pathways of romantic jealousy to intimate partner violence in Mwanza, northern Tanzania

“…These women were sampled from a pool of 85 women who reported changes in their experiences of sexual IPV between the baseline and endline survey of the trial. Changes in sexual IPV were chosen because they are a manifestation of severe IPV in a couple (Mchome et al, 2020). The purposive sampling ensured that women from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds were included, specifically from different ethnicities, religious groups, age groups, and with different income‐generating activities in Mwanza city (see Table 1).…”