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School of Humanities, Society and Development
FACULTY OF EDUCATION &
HUMAN SCIENCES

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN ENGLISH STUDIES

CANDIDATE: ǂGAWAS Emelda U

CANDIDATE’S DISSERTATION
TRANSACTIONAL SEX RELATIONSHIPS IN
FICTION: THE DISINTEGRATION OF WOMEN’S
EMANCIPATION THROUGH THE BLESSER/BLESSEE
CULTURE IN SELECTED AFRICAN NOVELS
The doctoral study was undertaken and completed under the
supervision of Prof. Jairos Kangira as Main-Supervisor and Dr Nelson
Mlambo as Co-Supervisor, both from the University of the Namibia.

The hashtag #blessed started trending several years ago on different
social media platforms when women claimed to be beneficiaries
of blessers. This hashtag falls under the contemporary phenomenon
known as transactional sex relationships, colloquially known as the
blessers, blessees, sugar daddies, sugar babies and side-chicks.
The study aimed to interrogate the multiple layers of transactional
sex relationships in fiction and how they possibly contribute to the
disintegration of women’s emancipation. The qualitative desktop study
selected and analysed four novels by southern African writers: The
Blessed Girl by Angela Makholwa (2018), Bare: #The Blesser Game by
Jackie Phamotse (2017), Sweet Medicine by Panashe Chigumadzi
(2016), and The y in yOUR Man is Silent: Book 1 by Yvonne Maphosa
(2019). The findings indicate that the authors wrote extensively
and without inhibition about transactional sex relationships and
presented a variety of issues that are considered taboo. In addition,
the following key issues were identified as the primary sources of
transactional sex relationships: women’s agency, consumerism,
modernity, poverty, parental influence, peer pressure and gendered
norms amongst others. Depression, trauma, abuse, and isolation were
some of the issues found to be the psychological, physical and social
consequences of transactional sex relationships. The study also found
that the advancement of Lipstick Feminism towards the application
of make-up and women using their sex appeal as empowerment has
contributed to the commodification of transactional sex and thus the
disintegration of women’s empowerment.
The study concludes that the transactional sex relationship culture
contributes to the disintegration of women’s empowerment.

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