Professor Deevia Bhana
South African Research Chair (SARChI): Gender and Childhood Sexuality
School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal
About
Deevia Bhana holds the South African Research Chair in Gender and Childhood Sexuality at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Her research focuses on how gender and sexuality come to matter in the young life course and the implications for childhood well-being, equity and gender justice. In this research, she traces the intersection of gender, race, poverty, class in shaping young sexualities in schools, families, intimate relationships and digital spaces. Her recent sole authored book is Girls and the Negotiation of Porn in South Africa: Power, Play and Sexuality (Routledge, 2023); and recent edited books include Gender and Young People's Digital Sexual Cultures (Palgrave MacMillan, 2025), Young masculinities and sexual health in Southern Africa (Routledge, 2025) and Gendered and Sexual Norms in Global South Early Childhood Education Understanding Normative Discourses in Post-Colonial Contexts (Routledge, 2024).
Research Focus
Research Focus
Education
Education
- PhD in Education — University of KwaZulu-Natal
- MA in Education — University of KwaZulu-Natal
- BA in Education — University of KwaZulu-Natal
- South African Research Chair (SARChI) — Gender and Childhood Sexuality
Academic Appointments
Academic Appointments
Current: South African Research Chair (SARChI): Gender and Childhood Sexuality, University of KwaZulu-Natal
- South African Research Chair (SARChI) — Gender and Childhood Sexuality, University of KwaZulu-Natal (present)
- Professor — University of KwaZulu-Natal
- Associate Professor — University of KwaZulu-Natal
- Senior Lecturer — University of KwaZulu-Natal
Publications
Publications
Whole Books:
1. Bhana, D. (2023). Girls and the negotiation of porn in South Africa: Power, play and sexuality. Routledge. Link
2. Bhana, D. (2018). Love, sex and teenage sexual cultures in South Africa: 16 turning 17. Routledge. Link
3. Bhana, D. (2016). Gender and childhood sexuality in the primary school. Springer. Link
4. Bhana, D. (2016). Childhood sexuality and AIDS education: The price of innocence. Routledge. Link
Edited Books:
5. Bhana, D. (Ed.) (2025). Gender and young people's digital sexual cultures. Palgrave MacMillan. Link
6. Bhana, D., Skovdal, M., & Govender, K. (Eds). (2025). Young masculinities and sexual health in Southern Africa. Routledge. Link
7. Bhana, D., Xu, Y., & Adriany, V. (Eds.). (2024). Gendered and sexual norms in Global South early childhood education: Understanding normative discourses in post-colonial contexts. Routledge. Link
8. Bhana, D., Crewe, M., & Aggleton, P. (Eds.). (2023). Sex, sexuality and sexual health in Southern Africa. Routledge. Link
9. Bhana, D., Singh, S., & Msibi, T. (Eds.). (2021). Gender, sexuality and violence in South African educational spaces. Palgrave MacMillan. Link
Chapters in Books:
10. Bhana, D. (2025). Girls' desires, porn and sexual double standards. In D. Bhana (Ed.), Gender and young people's digital sexual culture (pp.). Palgrave MacMillan.
11. Bhana, D. (2025). Global concerns and local realities: Gender, sexuality and young people's digital futures. In D. Bhana (Ed.), Gender and young people's digital sexual culture (pp.). Palgrave MacMillan.
12. Bhana, D. (2025). Living on the edge: Young masculinity, poverty and sexual health. In D. Bhana, M. Skovdal, & K. Govender (Eds.), Young masculinities and sexual health in Southern Africa (pp. 157-175). Routledge.
13. Bhana, D. (2025). Between panic and protection: Children and young people's encounters with online pornography. In L. Lingham, & N. Mkhwanazi (Eds.), Digital technologies and gendered realities (pp. 187-202). Routledge.
14. Bhana, D. (2025). 'Girly girls' and 'raw girls': Young femininities, gender and heterosexuality. In A. Torres, PC. Pinto, T. Shefer., & J. Hearn (Eds.), Routledge international handbook of feminisms and gender studies: Convergences, divergences and pluralities (pp. 289-303). Routledge.
15. Bhana, D. (2024). Early childhood education. In L. Allen., & M. L. Rasmussen (Eds.), The Palgrave encyclopedia of sexuality education (pp. 1-9). Palgrave Macmillan.
16. Bhana, D. (2024) Crush-tastic: When girls encounter sexually explicit materials. In S. Mazarella (Ed.), The Routledge companion to girls' studies (pp. 363–374). Routledge.
17. Bhana, D., Xu, Y., & Adriany, V. (2024). Gender and sexuality in Global South early childhood education. In D. Bhana, Y. Xu, & V. Adriany (Eds.), Gendered and sexual norms in Global South early childhood education (pp. 1-15). Routledge.
18. Bhana, D. (2024). Sexuality, bodies and desire through the schooling of girls. In T. Abebe, A. Dar, & K. Wells (Eds.), Routledge handbook of childhood studies and global development (pp. 304-318). Routledge.
19. Bhana, D. (2023). Comprehensive sexuality education: Young masculinity, cultural relevance and context matters. In R. J. Tierney, F. Rizvi, & K. Erkican (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (pp. 171–178). Elsevier.
20. Bhana, D., & Salvi, F. (2022). Inhlawulo, kin and custom: Young men negotiating fatherhood and respectable masculinity. In E. Moore (Ed.), Generation, gender and negotiating custom in South Africa (pp. 86-101). Routledge.
Journal Articles (Selected Recent):
21. Bhana, D., & Rizvi, R. (2025). 'Cover up': girls, gender and dress codes in a boarding house. Journal of Gender Studies, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2025.2516566
22. Ngidi, N. D., Bhana, D., & Dube, T. (2025). 'Our options are limited, so we get married:' girls, early marriage and health risks in rural Zimbabwe. Health, Risk & Society, 0(0), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698575.2025.2492870
23. Bhana, D., Govender, D., & Maphumulo, N. C. (2025). Heterosexual learners' accounts of gender and sexuality diversity: Race, religion, reproduction and ritual. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2025.2493347
24. Bhana, D., & Lakhan, O. (2025). Affordance and ambivalence in South African teenage girls' digital dating practices. Journal of Children and Media, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2025.2464845
25. Janak, R., & Bhana, D. (2025). Gender, materiality and culture: South African teachers' accounts of sexual violence among primary school girls. Journal of Gender-Based Violence 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1332/23986808Y2024D000000043
26. Bhana, D., Janak, R., & Matswetu, V. (2025). Teaching danger and silencing desire: Gender, culture and sexuality education in Zimbabwe. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 20(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/15546128.2023.2298458
27. Bhana, D., Reddy, V., & Moosa, S. (2025). Sabelo's Journey as a Young Black Gay Man in South Africa and the Potential of the Grindr App. Journal of Homosexuality, 72(9), 1772–1788. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2024.2392675
28. Bhana, D., Reddy, V., & Moosa, S. (2025). Young people becoming intimate on social media: Digital desires and gender dynamics. Sexualities, 28(4), 1653-1670. https://doi.org/10.1177/13634607241281449
29. Moosa, S., Bhana, D., & Govender, D. (2024). Parents' views on gay male teachers in early childhood education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 54(5), 645–662. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2024.2397378
30. Bhana, D., Aggleton, P., Miedema, E., & Ngidi, N. D. (2024). Beyond controversy – International perspectives on sexual and reproductive health education. Health Education Journal, 83(8), 821-829. https://doi.org/10.1177/00178969241297016
Note: This represents a selection of recent publications. Professor Bhana has published extensively with over 50 journal articles and numerous book chapters in the field of gender, sexuality, and education.
Research Projects
Research Projects
Teenage Fathers & Masculinity in South Africa
Role: Principal Investigator
Team: Deevia Bhana and Francesca Salvi (University of Nottingham)
Funding: British Academy's Research Awards 22-23 BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants
Abstract: This study aims to further understand how young men in South Africa embrace fatherhood through the support of their own mothers. When African teenagers in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa become fathers out of wedlock, cultural practices around the acknowledgement of paternity and the payment of damages are invoked. Since teenage fathers are mostly in education, and therefore not economically productive, their immediate kin are involved in the negotiation of paternity and payment of damages. Initial findings (Bhana and Salvi, 2022) suggest that grandmothers can thus act as 'enablers', by supporting their sons through fatherhood. Yet, the modalities of these practices remain unclear, as well as their impacts on gender norms – for both young fathers and older mothers. Focusing on the intergenerational dimension of family formation will enable us to contextualise social change around gender norms regulating masculinity and parenthood.
SexAFIN: Sexuality, Gender, And Sexual Education at A Local-Global Level
Role: Co-Investigator
Team: Estel Malgosa, Bruno Alverez (Autonomous University of Barcelona) and Deevia Bhana
Funding: Barcelona City Council, Global Justice Program
Abstract: SexAFIN is an action-research project aiming to contribute to the global and local development of comprehensive sexual education, considering sexual diversity, gender equity, pleasure, well-being, and the prevention of sexual violence, sexually transmitted infections, and unwanted pregnancies. The global-local approach of SexAFIN contributes to the development of sexual and reproductive rights from a gender perspective that connects global and local dimensions. This qualitative research involves 10-11-year-old students from educational institutions in the province of Barcelona (Spain) and the KwaZulu-Natal region (South Africa). The international dimension allows addressing gender inequalities in sexuality and developing global strategies to reduce disparities, considering local contexts.
Jill is different- A project on "intersex" children
Role: Co-Investigator
Team: Tim Rohrmann (HAWK Hildesheim) and Halah Elkarif (University of Hildesheim), Kozue Matsuda (Pepperdine University) Barbora Loudová Stralczynská (Charles University), Konstantina Rentzou (University of Ioannina Greece), Shaaista Moosa (University of KwaZulu-Natal), Rabia Rizvi (University of KwaZulu-Natal) and Deevia Bhana
Funding: HAWK Hildesheim and National Research Foundation (NRF)
Abstract: This international research project, led by Tim Rohrmann (HAWK Hildesheim) and Halah Elkarif, M.A. (University of Hildesheim), explores how the picture book Jill ist anders (Jill is Different) is received across diverse cultural and linguistic contexts. Originally published in Germany, the book introduces the topic of intersexuality to young children and challenges traditional binary gender norms, which often exclude non-normative identities such as those of intersex children. Participating countries include Germany, the Czech Republic, Japan, Greece, and South Africa. Using translated editions of the book, the study investigates the attitudes, perceptions, and responses of various stakeholders in the field of Early Childhood Education (ECE). The primary participants are ECE educators and ECE student teachers who engage with children during their practical training.