Sex Actually – What students think about the DFL Festival theme
August 5, 2010 – Drama for Life scholar Tonderai Chiyindiko shares his excitement about the Drama For Life Festival in a series of blogs. His first article explores what students think of this years` theme ‘Sex Actually’.
We are a few weeks away from the third annual Drama for Life Festival and Conference. The 2010 DFL festival has been ‘sexed up’, so to speak, by the rather catchy theme ‘Sex Actually’. This direct and provocative theme has drawn a lot of interest from students. When a snap survey was conducted a variety of opinions emerged.
The word and topic of sex is considered taboo in many African languages and cultures, such that one of the students interviewed responded by saying that where he comes from, “whether you are a professor or doctor, the issue of sex is not discussed and even if you want to ask for sex from your wife or girlfriend, you cannot ask directly but you have to come up with some covert way of showing your intentions and hope the message gets across”.
The theme ‘Sex Actually’ therefore creates possibilities for discussion and engagement on the issues around sex and sexuality in the light of HIV and AIDS in order to break the culture of silence.
Another student suggested that the theme seems to be incomplete, so she suggested that it should end with such phrases as “Sex Actually causes unwanted pregnancies, HIV/AIDS, etc” but in essence the theme asks us to put our own beliefs and cultural systems under the spotlight to find out what role we are playing in either spreading HIV and AIDS or promoting responsible behavior and awareness.
Yet another student responded that the theme poses questions such as “What is sex in contemporary society?”, “What has it become, what does it mean and what should it mean to society in general?” and also “How can we deconstruct and reconstruct the meaning of sex in order to be able to talk about it openly with our families and loved ones?”.
Other responses were that the theme suggests that ‘It is time’(Ke nako - from the 2010 FIFA World Cup jargon) we talk about sex just as we talk about many other things that affect our lives such as politics, religion, socio-economic issues and the platform for such engagement is provided through forums like the Drama for Life Festival.
Another common comment was that we need an appreciation of the gravity of the HIV and AIDS pandemic on the continent, and that urgency is needed to confront these issues especially sex as the primary method of HIV transmission, therefore the theme aptly captures that gravity of HIV and AIDS and the urgency needed to address it.
In concluding I would say that views and perceptions on the theme ‘Sex Actually’ and are diverse. Dialogue around sex remains core to interventions, as the issues around this topic cut across culture, race, class, sexual orientation and social status.
Note: The majority of students interviewed requested that their names not be published which I believe points to the nature of the topic, questions posed and how much individuals were willing to engage with this theme from a personal rather than general perspective. A certain amount of self-censorship emerged which I believe exacerbates the culture of silence around issues of sex, which is what I believe the theme ‘Sex Actually’ aims at highlighting and possibly reversing.