Women’s Experiences with Sex Position Decisions in Heterosexual Relationships in Ghana

Daniel Yaw Fiaveh, Centre for Men's Health and Sex Studies, Ghana

Sex positions have been insufficiently studied although they form important aspects of sexual intercourse and human sexuality. Based on the narratives of 20 women and 16 men, the paper explores how knowing more about sex position decisions advance knowledge of female sexual agentic capacity in Africa. Findings demonstrated that the willingness to perform sex positions or not were gendered and derive, at least in part, from differences in demographic profiles (such as age, gender, and marriage), the desire to maximize sexual pleasure, and perceptions of fear (e.g., fear of experiencing pain during sex, fear of suffering an ill health). Women more than men are preoccupied with these fears, and invent strategies including the use of threats of sexual refusal to prevent or overcome them. The need to address issues that would make sexual pleasure seeking easier for women and men and the removal of barriers of fears is compelling.