Femininity,Sexual Positions and Choice

Abstract

While women present themselves and their sexuality through dress and their deportment, there are areas of their sexual lives that are not so public and are less easy to research, such as intimate sexual relations. In this study, the authors report findings from interviews with men and women about a topic not often reported on – choice of sexual positions. The focus on sexual positions raises questions about sexual agency – who chooses, what do they choose, and why? It also raises issues of gender power and inequality between consenting (heterosexual) adults. In this study from urban Ghana, the authors show that women exercise sexual agency in the ‘bedroom’ but do so in ways that reflect emotional and relational security and, in turn, reflect men’s power. However, the article’s argument is not just about the power of men to seek and obtain pleasure. Women seek and obtain pleasure too.

Keywords

Africa femininity Ghana heterosexuality sexual agency sexual pleasure sexual positions

Introduction

While many studies on gender relationships look at discourse, sexual practices (including rape and intimate partner violence), domestic division of labour, work choices, and child care, we know little about how choice of sexual positions, as an important aspect of intimate sexual relations, can help in a broader understanding of female agency in Africa. Sexual positions provide a reliable means for the satisfaction of sexual desires, sexual pleasure and sexual wellbeing (Bizimana, 2010; Carroll, 2007; Hooper, 2000; World Health Organisation [WHO], 2006). Based on the narratives of 20 women and 16 men in a suburb of Accra, the present study explores women’s sexual position choices in order to advance knowledge on discourse, intimate partner relations and female agency, as well as to add to the existing literature on sexuality in sub-Saharan Africa.

Pleasurable sex and sexual and reproductive health risks are among the factors that trigger sexual choices in intimate sexual relations (Apostolou, 2015; Fiaveh et al., 2015a; Foucault, 1990; McFadden, 2003; Pereira, 2003; Tamale, 2010; Tenkorang, 2012). Dominant ideologies of masculinity (e.g. particularly in men seeking their own sexual pleasure) and femininity (e.g. women’s ‘love’ for their partners) are perceived as a means to suppress women’s sexual choices (see Anarfi, 2006; McFadden, 2003) although not all women live by dominant standards (Cornell, 2003; Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005; Howson, 2006). Women have sexual agency (Butler, 2011; Collins, 2000; Cornwall and Lindisfarne, 2005; Howson, 2006; Meyers, 2002; Miescher, 2005; Whitehead, 2002). The term agency signifies that a person is responsible for his or her own acts. Meyers (2002), for example, defines agentic skills as skills that enable individuals to construct their own self-portraits and self-narratives, and thereby enable them to take charge of their lives. Thus, sexual agency enables women to reshape sexual scripts, beliefs and behaviours in a given social context (see Collins, 2000).

In many African contexts, women display extensive sexual choices, including negotiating for their sexual pleasure and wellbeing (Adomako Ampofo, 2006; Bennett, 2011; Fiaveh et al., 2015a, 2015b; Groes-Green, 2011; Pereira, 2003; Tamale, 2010; Tenkorang, 2012), but we know little about how they portray themselves as reflected in and in relation to their preferred sexual position choices. This article offers a window into how and under what conditions women exercise agency in sexual position choices.

Gender and sexuality in Ghana

In Ghana, as in other sub-Saharan African societies, sexual matters are sensitive and often prohibited as discourse themes, although this has changed over time with the increasing sexual space offered in the media (see Tenkorang, 2012), the availability of pornography, and discussions around same-sex sexual relations. However, there are still conservative attitudes towards sex, though many cultural artifacts, music (e.g. ‘highlife’, ‘hiplife’, ‘hip pop’), dance and jokes are often constructed around sex and gender. Sexual activity is, on the other hand, understood to be practised with a considerable amount of restraint (Nukunya, 2014; Okyerefo & Fiaveh, 2016; Van der Geest, 2001) especially with the impact of HIV (see Adomako Ampofo, 2006; Anarfi, 2006; Fiaveh, 2012).

Gender and sexuality are both dependent on norms. Girls and boys learn the meaning of manhood and the penis and of womanhood and the vagina in different ways. The penis is euphemistically referred to as an abaa or adua (Akan, a stick); the vagina is a kolo (in Ewe) or tokro (Akan), meaning a hole. Because a stick is expected to enter a woman’s hole, anal sex (in whichever form, whether with a man or with a woman) is considered a sexual depravity, even though historical trajectories indicate that same-sex sexual relations in some Ghanaian societies existed prior to European and Western contacts (see Amadiume, 1987; Appiah, 1996).

Female sexuality in popular and public discourse is seen to be determined by male sexual needs. Sexual regulations and norms across cultures and religious traditions are linked to the adherence to societal prescriptions of gendered behaviour which is largely controlled by men (Abotchie, 1997; Addai, 2000; Akyeampong and Agyei-Mensah, 2006; Miescher, 2005; Nukunya, 2014). However, studies have shown that religion and culture do not necessarily suppress women’s sexual choices as espoused in religious texts and in some cultural practices (see Ammah, 1992; Pereira, 2003; Tamale, 2010) and may actually afford women the space to demand their sexual rights.

Marriage or steady relationship structures legitimate contexts for understanding women’s and men’s sexuality across most cultures in Ghana (see Nukunya, 2014), and like other patterns of behaviour, are learned from early childhood. Women in particular are encouraged to live up to moral standards relating to the ‘appropriate’ ways of expressing sexuality (e.g. not appearing easy and cheap to a man, or too willing for sex), in keeping one’s respect as ‘good’ and virtuous (Allman, 1996).

Yet women have sexual choices within the confines of marriage (Fiaveh et al., 2015a, 2015b; Tenkorang, 2012). For instance, although a wife is not expected to deny a husband sexual intercourse except on the grounds of her menstrual period or when she is sick, a man is also expected to respect his wife’s sexual choices (Fiaveh et al., 2015a). The vagina (euphemistically alluded to in local parlance as n’adwosuo in Akan, literally meaning ‘her trading place’) affords women the space to have sexual choices and to engage dominant men (see Agyekum, 2010). Women also use other strategies such as the threat to scream or shout to signal unwanted sexual overtures from men. Most often, it is very likely that men will refrain from engaging in unwanted sexual practices with women for fear of losing their masculinity based on cultural virtues (Fiaveh et al., 2015a). Women also use their physique, looks, and beauty to entice men and to seek men’s sexual compliance (Fiaveh et al., 2015a; Fiaveh, 2014).

Ghanaian women strategically draw on male sexual needs (e.g. the desire to have sex) to negotiate their sexual choices (Adomako Ampofo, 2006; Akyeampong and Agyei-Mensah, 2006; Fiaveh, 2014). In this study, we show how Ghanaian women engage in active responses to Ghanaian men in intimate sexual relations, based on their sexual position choices. How do Ghanaian women portray themselves as active agents of intimate sexual relations in their preferences for sexual positions?

Method

Participants and procedure

Data presented in this study are drawn from in-depth interviews (with 36 interviewees) conducted from February 2012 to April 2012 in Madina, Ghana. The population of interest consisted of Ghanaians, 15 years and above, who at some time had had sex. The interviewees were residents of Madina, a suburb of Accra within the La-Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly, a district in the Greater Accra Region of southeastern Ghana. Madina is adjacent to the University of Ghana, the premier university in Ghana, and the municipality has a total population of 101,207 (see Ghana Statistical Service [GSS], 2012, revised). Madina is an urban community with mixed ethnicities such as Akan, Mole-Dagbani, Ewe and the Ga-Dangme. It is composed of five communities: Madina Zongo, Nkwantanan, Tataana, Taatso and Madina Estate. For the purposes of convenience, Madina Zongo and Madina Estate were selected.

Interviews took place in the interviewees’ homes and work places, subject to appointment. All interviews were conducted by the first author and interviewees were assured of anonymity and confidentiality Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used. Purposive sampling was used because of its effectiveness in identifying interviewees with direct and personal knowledge of sex that they are able and willing to communicate (Bryman, 2008), in order to capture the sexual experiences of different demographic groups such as the married and unmarried, the employed and unemployed, as well as variations in ethnicity, religion and sexual experiences. The interviewer approached potential interviewees with the view to having a general discussion about young people’s sexual behaviour as a strategy for soliciting a response due to the sensitive nature of the study. This approach was useful because, in Ghana, adult women and men are willing to share their views on young people’s sexuality, especially in relation to what they regard as the ‘immoral’ behaviour of the youth. The conversation was then redirected to focus on the participant’s own sexual experiences, including sexual positions choices.

Interviewer stressed his ability to speak the local languages as a means to building a rapport with, and eliciting confidence and trust from the interviewees. Given the interviewer’s gender as a male researcher, we had expected that more males than females would be willing to participate in the study. This is due to the popular [mis]perception that ‘good’ women do not discuss their sexual behaviour with those with whom they have no sexual relations. Despite this notion, most of the women willingly shared their sexual experiences with the interviewer. The central question was: What influences the position you adopt during the sexual act?

Sexual positions are those techniques that men and women adopt during sexual intercourse. Hooper (2000) describes several types of position, such as the yawning position, the widely opened position, acrobatic position, erotic sculptures, the elephant posture, side-by-side, and rear entry ‘penetration’, which women and men engage in during sex. The interviewees were free to ‘choose’ sexual positions they wished to discuss. They mentioned different kinds of positions, which were categorized into five main types, namely woman on top position (e.g. me tenaso, literally meaning in Twi ‘I sit on it’), man on top position (e.g. bɔ no asεnnua mu, which literally in Twi means ‘crucify her’), side-by-side position, rear-penetration position (e.g. ‘doggy’ style or koto hɔ gye in Twi, meaning ‘bow to receive’), and standing sexual position, which some interviewees referred to in Twi as gyinahɔ gye, meaning ‘stand to receive’). The reasons for choosing these five main categorizations are based on the fact that regardless of which positions partners engage in, the man is either on top of the woman or vice versa, neither of the partners is on top of the other, which we classify as partners lying side-by-side each other (third category), or they engage in what is known as rear entry ‘penetration’ (fourth category, i.e. squatting or kneeling while having sex, the ‘doggy’ position), and the standing to have sex position (fifth category). Any other sexual positions involve variations of these.

Data analysis

Audiotape interviews were transcribed verbatim using expert translators. The transcripts used pseudonyms and all records (e.g. interviews and transcripts) were treated confidentially.

The transcripts were read by both authors and summarized by the first author to highlight emerging codes and themes on sexual position narratives. In the final reading, a coding frame was developed using a constructivist paradigm (i.e. in terms of socially constructed power relations), interviewees’ lived experiences (i.e. in terms of personality), and personal lived experiences (including our interpretations of the transcripts). The themes developed included sexual awareness, agency of sexual pleasure, and sexual fears. When a theme was identified by the first author, but could not be confirmed by the co-author, the theme was dropped from the analysis. The segments with similar meanings were coded under one theme to avoid repetition.

The first author contacted all the interviewees three months after the interview for a meeting or telephone conversation. In this conversation, he presented the individuals with some preliminary findings and interpretations of their narratives in order to seek confirmation and feedback. While he was not able to contact all interviewees, the feedback from those contacted (6 women and 2 men) is presented as part of the discussion. The interview extracts included in this article were the direct translation of the interviewees in their local languages and in oral (‘broken’) English. This is to retain the faithfulness of the transcripts and to project the interviewees’ own voices.

Results

A total of 20 women and 16 men aged between 22 and 79 years participated in the study. More than half of the interviewees were under age 40. With the exception of two interviewees who were pursuing full-time education, the rest were working; 33 had attained at least some basic education; 23 were Christians, 10 were Muslims and 3 did not belong to any religious faith; and 16 were married (see Table 1). Women’s sexual position choices derived mainly from three main themes, i.e. sexual awareness, power play over sexual pleasure, and over sexual fear.

Table 1.

Demographic characteristics of interviewees.

Res	Pseudonyms	Gender	Age	Marital status	Duration of relationship	Education	Religion	Occupation
R1	Sumaya	F	36	Never married	1 year	Primary	Muslim	Seamstress
R2	Fonyeh	M	39	Married	10 years	Tertiary: Postgrad	Christian	Lecturer
R3	Asantewaa	F	43	Married	8 years	Middle School	Christian	Trader
R4	Memuna	F	35	Remarried	2 years	SSS/SHS	Muslim	Trader
R5	Naa	F	37	Remarried	3 months	Tertiary: Postgrad	Christian	Lecturer
R6	Sitsofe	F	31	Married	2 years	Tertiary: Postgrad	Christian	Teacher
R7	Dism	M	25	Divorced	2 years	Tertiary: Undergrad	Christian	Social worker
R8	Dogl	M	28	Never married	Not in relationship	Tertiary: Undergrad	Christian	Medical doctor
R9	Dzidzor	F	38	Never married	2 years	Vocational	Christian	Social worker
R10	Natuama	M	31	Never married	7 years	Tertiary: Undergrad	Muslim	Consultant
R11	Babaana	M	28	Never married	4 years	Tertiary: Postgrad	Muslim	Civil servant
R12	Kun	M	28	Never married	Not in relationship	Tertiary: Undergrad	Christian	Medical Doctor
R13	Aida	F	37	Married	11 years	Tertiary: Postgrad	Christian	Lecturer
R14	Hajia	F	53	Married	26 years	Never attended any	Muslim	Trader
R15	Zu	F	26	Never married	6 months	Tertiary: Undergrad	Muslim	Student
R16	Azetiska	M	33	Never married	Not in relationship	Tertiary: Postgrad	Christian	Teacher
R17	Akosua	F	32	Never married	Not in relationship	Tertiary: Postgrad	Christian	Business Woman
R18	Rev	M	67	Divorced	20 years	SSS/JHS*	Christian	Public servant/pastor
R19	Uncle	M	73	Divorced	8 years	Primary (Three)	No religious affiliation	Retiree
R20	Nuru	M	40+	Married	5 years	Tertiary: Postgrad	Muslim	Health admin
R21	Anti Nurse	F	56	Divorced	10 years of divorce	Post Secondary	Christian	Nurse
R22	Oko	M	33	Never married	1 year	Tertiary: Undergrad	Christian	Student
R23	Koshie	F	36	Married	1 year	Post secondary	Christian	Admin assistant
R24	Gyamfua	F	25	Never married	6 years	Tertiary: Postgrad	Christian	Student
R25	Akofa	F	30	Never married	2 years	Primary	Christian	Health assistant
R26	Korku	M	33	Married	6 years	Tertiary: Postgrad	No religious affiliation	Teacher
R27	Gustaf	M	42	Married	5 years	SSS*	Muslim	Businessman
R28	Baba	M	53	Married	10 years	Technical	Muslim	Contractor
R29	Maimagani	M	46	Married	12 years	Never attended any	Muslim	Sells medicine
R30	Aduro wora	F	79	Widow	25 years	Never attended any	No religious affiliation	Sells medicine
R31	Oye-Mansa	F	22	Married	4 months	Tertiary: undergrad	Christian	Student
R32	Maame	F	30	Never married	5 months	Tertiary: Postgrad	Christian	Teaching assistant
R33	Adwoa	F	33	Married	10 years	Undergrad	Christian	Teacher
R34	Jun	F	31	Never married		Postgrad	Christian	Nurse
R35	Wiafe	M	38	Never married		Postgrad	Christian	Businessman
R36	Absu	F	42	Married	8 years	Postgrad	Christian	Administrator

Senior secondary school/Senior high school

Sexual awareness

The media, religious texts, and oral tradition (in the form of proverbs and maxims), experiences, and hearsay (expressed in Twi as ‘yεse yεse’, translated as ‘they say they say’) were the main sources of sexual messages for the majority of interviewees. Women reported more access to religious texts (in particular the Bible) and the media than men did. Younger women turned to the media that discussed sexual matters more than men and older women (above 35 years) did. They watched telenovela films or soap operas and ‘talk shows’ (both local and foreign) that construct sexuality in relation to eroticism, romance or love. Others contain scenes of kissing and sexual messages that centre on ‘real’ men (e.g. loving and caring men/husbands, ‘responsible’ men, and ‘good-looking’ men). Some of the messages of these media outlets also strengthen stereotypical sexual beliefs such as ‘men like too much sex’ and ‘men lack sexual control’. A young woman had this to say:

Ei! I think now I know more about sex, I’ve read more what you can do to enjoy sex. I remember watching a program on Adom TV, it’s ‘Chocolate Factory’ where the panel discussed about sex and how to go about it. They talked about more romance [foreplay] to make the woman wet [lubricate the woman] before… [sexual intercourse]. MZ [pseudonym of the hostess] sometimes shows some pono [porn] about sexual positions on her programme ‘Odo Ahomaso’ she calls it [one of the sexual positions] ‘Ghana Mali Guinea’. I’m still learning, although not married. I’m still young and don’t wanna [want to] worry my head too much about men and their troubles [unfaithful behaviour]. (Zu: 26 years, unmarried, higher education, Muslim)

For majority (33) of the interviewees, religion made a difference with regard to how they construct their sexuality. This is to be expected given that, in Ghana and other parts of Africa, religion permeates all aspects of social life, including sexuality.

One of the key issues that emerged, regardless of the age and level of education of the women, had to do with the way the women – particularly Christian women – engaged in strategic negotiations of religious texts and the interpretations that they gave to them. Although those who said they were Islamic did not cite any religious texts in support of their sexual rights, they also asserted the need for women to have control over their sexuality, including sexual position preferences.

While religious affiliation did not make any difference in terms of the women’s sexual agency, religion played a role in influencing the extent to which they were willing to engage their men in sexual practices. Women drew on passages in religious texts such as the Bible and the Quran about men’s sexual weakness, as well as popular narratives that emphasize men’s sexual self-centeredness, i.e. ‘they don't really care about you, it's only about their own feelings.’

Men (younger men in particular) perceived a relationship as necessarily involving sexual intercourse, while women stressed that sex is about love and should ideally occur in marriage. Unmarried women were less reluctant to engage in certain sexual positions than married women and men. Expressions such as ‘I was brought up as a decent [good] woman’, ‘I was not a spoilt girl’, ‘my parents were strict on us/me’, ‘I did not associate with bad friends’, and ‘I am the shy type’, were used in discussing sex and sexual positions. Women had ‘person-centred’ beliefs regarding sex such as ‘I did it [that position] because I loved him’, ‘he is my husband’, or relational beliefs ‘we’ve been dating for long’, ‘he is my serious boyfriend’, ‘my parents [in most cases her mother] know him’. This suggests that the goal of a relationship for these women was to express emotional affection to a partner in a steady relationship, regardless of their decision to engage in any sexual activity or position.

Oh ‘Hm asεm bisa bεn ni’? [What a question], what reason is there? Mmm! Well, it was like I had the feeling for the guy and I didn’t want him to go. It was like anytime we are out he is like, ‘let’s try this, let’s try that’. You know guys, they have a way of luring you to do what you don’t want to do, so in fact I eventually did it [tried the said position]. But it was a bad experience. It wasn’t such a pleasant experience [chuckles]. It was too tedious and always painful and all that you know. (Koshie, 36 years, higher education, Christian)

Men had ‘proof-centred’ beliefs regarding sexual activity, such as ‘if you love me then prove your love to me’, ‘ah! why are you refusing [to have sex] if you love me’, and ‘this relationship is over because there’s no love’. Whereas, for women, being pressured to have sex and engage in unwanted sexual practices and positions was forced sex, younger men perceived pressuring women for sex as an expression of ‘proper’ masculinity because women only express love ‘openly’ to ‘real’ men – meaning men who do not give up easily on women’s refusal of sexual advances. The men claimed that it is the nature of women to say no to sex when they actually mean yes because they do not want to appear cheap to men, and that a ‘proper’ man should not be worried when a woman refuses his sexual overtures. Although some women partly agreed with men on this point, they did not believe that this meant that women could not exercise their sexual agency in the ‘bedroom’ in terms of making sexual choices. A popular misconception, as indicated by one of the male interviewees, is that women who are too exposed to sex are not ‘sexually fulfilled’ and are therefore susceptible to infidelity. But two female interviewees claimed that a woman’s sexual awareness in terms of sexual choices is good for the man in procuring sexual pleasure and fidelity because such women are in control of their sexuality and cannot be wooed by other men.

Sexual pleasure

This section explores how women understand sexual pleasure and the place of sexual positions within this. The findings show that sexual preferences, as a result of sexual beliefs and awareness, influence women’s engagement of sexual positions with men. For example, if a woman is ‘ignorant’ about sex, she may seek sexual pleasure in only one conventional way. Watching and listening to sex education programmes, experiencing sex with different partners, and talking about sex with friends, may influence how she achieves pleasure and demands sexual preference. Some women indicated that some men are overzealous in terms of sexual demands – including the choice of sexual positions – in the quest to prove their worth as ‘real’ men, leaving women sexually unsatisfied, ‘halfway’. Others stated that some sexual positions such as the doggy position create discomfort and pain. Hence, women preferred positions such as the woman on top position that they ‘know best suit their comfort’, as one woman indicated, or because it gave them control over the sexual encounter and enabled them to set the pace. Both women and men claimed that a ‘woman on top’ position enabled women to delay a male partner’s ejaculation so that for both parties to attain sexual pleasure.

Adventure and fun were important, as women sought to explore varying sexual positions for pleasure. The interviewees (male and female) reported that since the ultimate aim of sex is for the pleasure of both consenting heterosexual adults, it is imperative for men to accord women the necessary space to choose sexual positions that will not deny them sexual pleasure. The men acknowledged that some women refuse their men sex on the grounds of displeasure and discomfort regarding the choice of sexual positions. Women indicated that there was a need for women to recognize the power play in sexual activity to enable them to also ‘enjoy’ sex as men do. Women were not inhibited regarding sexual position choices and securing their sexual pleasure, although a steady relationship (such as marriage or dating) does explain the extent to which a woman agrees to choose sexual positions. For example, Memuna, a married Muslim woman, who had divorced on grounds of relationship dissatisfaction, indicated that although her current husband preferred being on top during sex, she did not like it because that position made her ‘insignificant’ during sex. She negotiated her preferred sexual position which is to be on top, not only for pleasure, but also for power and recognition (‘being in-charge’).

I enjoy sex more when I’m on top. You see, being on top makes me feel I am in charge [in control]. Although my husband prefers the missionary position [being on top of me during sex], I feel it more when I’m in-charge. With this one [points to the man on top sexual position] he does everything, and I do not matter to him. You know we women can stay without border [although not necessarily absence of sex]. My husband knows this [her preferred sexual position]. So it is up to him [both laugh uncontrollably]. (Memuna, 35 years)

Naa was also adventurous about sex. She indicated preferences for varied sexual positions, although her assertiveness depended on her male partner’s openness as well. For instance, she was unable to express her sexual feelings with her former partner (husband), who she claimed was ‘lousy in bed’ and not willing to abide by her sexual terms. According to her, the former partner was an ‘idiot’ and too ‘kolo’ [Ghanaian English, meaning old fashioned] with regard to sexual practices (‘one style nkoaa [meaning they never had sex in varied positions]), although this was not the main reason for her divorce. Rather, her husband felt that Naa had been too exposed to sex and had had sexual partners outside her marital union. She had remarried, and her current partner was willing to engage her in negotiations, including about sexual preferences. Therefore, it was easier for her to initiate sex and to resist some sexual positions, techniques or forms. She had this to say:

Eh of course, doggy in particular, I don’t really like it because I don’t feel and it enters too deep and all that. The idiot always insisted on that and always comes early too. Why can’t a woman do her own thing sometimes? Some men are too ‘kolo’ [rigid] and not in touch ‘kroaa’ [at all]. Honestly, my current partner is very free [open-minded]. Sometimes he is on top, other times I’m the one ‘riding the boat’ [on top]. It's all about the pleasure, you know. ‘If it must be done, it must be done well’. [Both laugh]. (Naa, 37 years, married, Christian)

Women who were unmarried were assertive with regard to sexual positions as part of their strategy to indicate to their male partners good moral virtues as potential wives.

Oh sex is there in marriage. If we are married, we can do all the positions we like. But, since we are not married I cannot do all those styles, even though I know some can be nice to try. You know some of the positions, charlie, are something else. Even the man will be wondering where you learned all those styles from. If he is getting all what he wants now, what will motivate him to even take you to the altar [marry the woman]. (June, 31 years, unmarried, Christian)

Some of the interviewees (both women and men) claimed that physique also explained the kind of sexual positions partners may choose and, by extension, the extent to which a woman might be willing to engage in a particular sexual position. Men and women were of the view that women do not like as much sex as men do, hence their belief that women’s interest in sex could be heightened by making sex more pleasurable. For instance, being overweight or due to inexperience in performing a given sexual position, or engaging in difficult sexual positions as a result of body size, create sexual discomfort and could constitute grounds for a woman to refuse a male partner sex. From the perspective of the interviewees, the ability to perform certain sexual positions depended on the physical characteristics of a woman, such as how ‘plump’ or ‘slim’ she was. Some women were unable to engage their partners in certain sexual positions such as ‘standing and carrying partner’ because they or their partners were unable to accommodate such positions, or because they were ‘too heavy’ as a result of being overweight. This is not to suggest that women do not prefer a variety of sexual positions.

You see there are some women who don’t like ‘too’ [very] much sex just as some men. So you don’t worry them too much with these difficult styles [sexual positions]. They may not be willing to do them. The thing is that they have the ‘hole’ [vagina] and we have the ‘stick’ [penis]. Some of the styles [giggles] unless you get an outsider who is slim before you can have this style with [standing and kneeling]. This one, man on top, can be with your wife. So this is what I usually do with my wife. (uncle, 73 years, divorcee, no religious affiliation)

The evidence presented in this study identifies that women had their own imperatives which could not be reduced to what men think or want and that women were not powerless in their sexual position preferences. Men’s notions of women were actually empowering the women. For instance, since the men assumed that women do not like as much sex as men do, and may thus refuse a man sex, the women were free to choose their sexual position.

Sexual fear

Women and men in our sample had a number of sexual fears which included those of ‘bad’ or unwanted sexual practices (such as anal sex). Moral upbringing (with religion as an important factor) informed this view. Anal sex is frowned on in Ghana, and with the exception of four (a woman and three men), the interviewees were of the view that certain sexual positions, when not practised carefully, could lead to anal sex, which they considered a ‘bad’ sexual practice.

Oh, for example, if we change from one position to another to say what you people call ‘doggy,’ he has difficulty locating the place [the vagina opening]. I know that thing [anal sex] is bad and painful even from my little experience if he is trying to enter the wrong way. That’s why I am careful when doing these positions. Sometimes, I redirect him by holding the penis using my left hand into the place [vagina]. Sometimes too, I tell him, ‘my friend you are entering wrongly’, and he listens. (Akofa, 30 years, unmarried, Christian)

Even men who are perceived to be more open to sexual practices than women had a conservative attitude towards sex and fears about it. For instance, Rev., aged 67 years and a divorcee, indicated the need for partners to exercise sexual restraint and uphold moral virtues even in marital unions. On this note, Rev. said he did not engage in any other position with his wife [‘apart from what some pastors call bɔ no asεnnua mu meaning crucify her, which is the ‘man on top’ sexual position] as she also had a conservative attitude towards sex.

For those aged 40 and above, in particular, women, religion and cultural values informed the choice of ‘conservative’ sexual positions (e.g. man on top position) and the need to exercise some restraint in sex, whether one was married or not.

Further, women’s sexual fear with regard to sexual position choices was influenced by their reproductive health misconceptions. Some sexual positions (e.g. the doggy-style) were perceived to cause harm to the reproductive organs, especially to the uterus of a woman and to the male testicles (e.g. when the woman squats or sits on top of the man). The standing sexual position was believed by some interviewees to be a risky practice that could cause a stroke, while the ‘doggy’ position could affect the ability of a woman to bear children because it could ‘push the womb far’ [Twi, εpia wáwodiε no kɔ akyire].

This style can affect your womb. A friend told me that her friend who was fond of [enjoyed] this particular position, I mean the ‘doggy style’ [rear entry], now has challenges in getting pregnant. I hear when she visited the hospital, the doctors said that her womb has been pushed far. Me too, my experience shows that the thing [penis] enters too deep when you do this style [rear entry]. Sometimes you see blood after[wards]. So for me dier noooo [as for me I will not engage in such positions]. (Sumaya, unmarried, 36 years, Muslim)

Besides direct verbal communication, some women also opted to shout and scream as a means of signalling sexual disapproval. The women indicated that ‘decent’ men want to protect their masculinity and would refrain from any practices that would dent their reputation and cause harm to the women they claim to love. On the other hand, for men who were what one interviewee described as ‘stubborn’, there were still ways to exercise sexual agency. One woman, for example, stressed that ‘men will die without vagina’ [with laughter]. Sitsofe, a married woman described how she goes about her ‘transactional’ sexual negotiation strategies:

You see, mostly, he is the one in need of the thing [sex]. Me I can stay aaah without sex and nothing will happen to me. I only feel for it occasionally. So he knows this. He knows that I like this position or I don’t like that position, so if he insists, I will just get up and go into the hall and leave him lying there. I have tried this before. He will come and beg me that ‘Let’s go to bed, I will never try that again’. (Sitsofe, 31 years, Christian)

Discussion and conclusion

The study explored women’s and men’s sexual position preferences and highlights women’s agency. One possible concern with the demographics of the interviewees is the dispersion of interviewees’ ages. The interviews were conducted by a male researcher, who was discussing culturally sensitive issues with female and male respondents. There is a possibility that some respondents were inhibited in their responses or simply provided what were perceived to be culturally acceptable answers to the research questions. However, the women willingly participated in the study and appeared to have no cultural inhibitions or difficulty in expressing their views.

What is evident in the study is that the media remain key sources of sexual information in Ghana (Nukunya, 2014; Tenkorang, 2012). The media have equipped many women and men with the knowledge to define their sexual behaviour, particularly through ‘foreign’ influences (e.g. soap operas, telenovelas, and movies). We argue that these changes are among the factors that foster the space for women’s sexual awareness in terms of sexual practices, pleasurable sex, and sexual wellbeing, and make it easier for women to negotiate sex and exercise agency. The evidence presented suggests that although the type of sexual relationship (such as marriage and steady dating relationship) was associated with the extent to which women exercise sexual agency with regard to sexual position decisions, women do make sexual choices, whether they are married or not. The findings from this study demonstrate that Ghanaian women choose sexual positions, at least in part, from sexual awareness, sexual fear and the desire to maximize sexual pleasure.

Preference for sexual positions raises issues of gender power and inequality between consenting heterosexual adults (Carroll, 2007), and questions about sexual agency – who chooses, what they choose, and why they choose what they choose. For some women, gaining ‘control’ during sex is a good feeling which enables them to negotiate their sexual choices. These women were not inhibited in any way regarding sexual position decisions, irrespective of religious persuasions, marital status and education. Religion was empowering for some women as a way of mobilizing ‘moral virtues’ (as espoused in religious texts) (see Okyerefo & Fiaveh, 2016) and engaging men in decisions concerning their sexual choices. Older women in particular reflected upon their own moral beliefs in sexual position choices and were more reluctant to explore unconventional sexual positions. Younger men and women were more experimental in this respect.

Further, fears emanating from certain beliefs about health and sexual practices typify the refusal to engage in certain sexual positions; for example, those that cause bodily discomfort or are associated with infertility. Although men do persuade women to engage in diverse sexual practices and sexual positions, women negotiate sex on their own terms. In most instances, women are aware of when they are being coerced or blackmailed into engaging in unwanted sexual practices and seek men’s sexual compliance (Adomako Ampofo, 2006; Akyeampong and Agyei-Mensah, 2006; Fiaveh et al., 2015a). So far as the vagina plays an important part in sex between consenting heterosexual adults, women can use it to negotiate their sexual choice.

In this study, we show that women in Ghana are not as passive, in terms of sexual choices, as popular knowledge suggests. Although we acknowledge that fear and moral persuasions can influence the extent to which women experience sexual pleasure, our findings show that women seek and obtain pleasure just as men do. There is a need to deconstruct misconceptions about the repressed sexuality of women vis-à-vis gender power for a broader understanding of the sexual agency of women. Sexuality programmes about sex positions and techniques, using the media as key agents, could enhance women’s and men’s sexual pleasure and reduce complaints of sexual displeasure. Larger scale studies incorporating consenting homosexual adults, as well as other sexual minorities will be useful for developing a broader understanding of the relationship of sexual positions to issues of agency and gender power in Ghana.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers of this journal for their contribution in shaping the quality of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The study was supported by the CODESRIA-Small Grants Programme for Thesis Writing (ref: SGRT.11/T11) and a Ghana Studies Association Research Grant.

Daniel Yaw Fiaveh is a sex sociologist/anthropologist with interests in the construction of masculinities, representation of men and boys, sexual cultures, and social cultural determinants of sexual health. A Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Cape Coast, Ghana, he founded the Centre for Men’s Health and Sex Studies, a not-for-profit establishment to promote research on men’s health and sex studies.

Michael PK Okyerefo is Associate Professor and Head, Department of Sociology, University of Ghana. A graduate of the universities of Ghana, Vienna, and Cambridge, Visiting Fellow, University of Cambridge, Centre of African Studies (2007/2008), External Research Fellow, Global African Diaspora Studies (GADS), Institut für Afrikawissenschaften, University of Vienna (since 2014). His research area is sociology of culture and sociology of religion, with interests ranging from the sociology of literature to human-capital formation among Ghanaians in the diaspora. Email: mokyerefo@ug.edu.gh; okyerefo@cantab.net

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