Gender Violence Through the Eyes of the Bajan Youth. Exploring Spaces for Sexuality Education in Small Island Developing States: A Case Study of Dance4Life Barbados.

Abstract

Sexuality Education (SE) is gaining momentum in the international gender violence prevention agenda. Nevertheless, there is still a gap in research exploring SE’s contribution to greater social equality. Gender equality is a key challenge in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) with the Caribbean having been identified for its high rates of gender violence. As adolescence has been recognised as a decisive period where perceptions of gender are developed, young people are a target audience for SE globally. Despite this focus, there is a notable gap in Caribbean scholarship around qualitative research with young people on gender violence. Partnering with SE programme Dance4Life Barbados (D4LB), this research contributes to closing these gaps. Its aims are threefold; (1) to explore the contribution of SE to greater social equality, (2) to unpack the complexity of gender violence and marginalisation of young people’s SRHR in the Caribbean and other SIDS, and (3) to amplify young voices through a youth-participation approach. Framed through notions of space, the findings reveal the complexity of gender violence through the eyes of young people, as they move between spaces as a perpetrator, witness or target of violence. Equipped with an intersectional approach and rooted in post-colonial Caribbean feminist scholarship, this research unpacks heteropatriarchal discourses of power underlying young people’s insights. Through the lens of voice, the research finds that the realisation of young people’s SRHR is policed by fear of gossip and notions of shame. With this contextual insight, the research identifies the mechanisms through which the D4LB classroom fosters a safe space for young people to engage in SRHR discussion. Stimulating epistemological curiosity in the Freirean sense, D4LB can be understood as a dialogic education space where critical thinking around social inequalities can happen. The research finds that D4LB has great potential to reach young people and engage them in challenging heteropatriarchal discourses that substantiate gender violence in Barbados. It recommends SIDS to consider prioritising non-formal SE programming as it contributes to meeting young people’s needs for safe spaces for SRHR, a significant concern within the small-island development agenda.