Se(x)ation, sensation or research? interrogating the research gaze

Abstract

This article takes a critical look at the research methodologies regarding gender-based violence and HIV and AIDS in South Africa over the last two decades. Gender has become the operative term in these research projects and there has been a conflation or collapse of gender with the feminist perspectives analysis. The immediate question is whether the studies on gender and masculinities have de-politiced feminist research and methodologies or whether it has enhanced the work of feminists. This is undoubtedly a loaded argument that has been on the minds of feminists and those who claim to support feminist theory and praxis.