Transactional relationships: young women’s shifting identities and spaces in intimate relationships

Abstract

Dating and intimate relationships continue to be critical points of investigation as people continually seek ways to navigate themselves within such spaces. Therefore, there is a need to explore how young people, specifically in this case, young women negotiate dating and intimate relationships. Using a critical-discursive feminist approach we aimed at exploring how culture and the local context shape young women’s understandings of sexual relationships with men. Furthermore, the study aimed at exploring how young South African women navigate their space, position themselves in their intimate relationships, construct themselves as sexual beings and negotiate dating and intimate relationships. Two conversation groups were conducted, and analysis focused on how young women describe ways in which they construct relationships with men, the sexual identities they work up, and the cultural resources they draw upon in so doing. The paper offers insights on how young women navigate transactional relationships.