Transactional Sex, Early Marriage, and Parent-Child Relations in a Tanzanian Slum

Abstract

Transactional sex has been recognized as a major factor in the persistence of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet it also has implications for the persistence of poverty. Using interview data collected between 2010 and 2015, this article examines how Muslim families in Dar es Salaam are affected by transactional sexual behavior.1 Examined are motives for transactional sex, how poor families view the purpose of marriage, and religious teachings and cultural beliefs about the onset of adulthood. Familial strategies to ensure provision for daughters and to improve the family’s socio-economic situation are impeded by the fact that in a context of high unemploy ment, transactional sex of ten represents the only path to female economic self-sufficiency, which of ten results in the family being encumbered with the financial burden of unwanted pregnancies