Sexual mores, promiscuity and ‘prostitution’ in Botswana

In Botswana there is a large, and increasing, number of women who do not marry but have one or several lovers simultaneously and have gifts from these menas an importantpart of their income. It is argued that the processual and practical character of traditional marriages, combined with weak social institutions, provides those who wish the basis on which to legitimise such informal sexual relationships. Such practices represent a new sexual morality, whose conditions are further explained by treating the term ‘prostitution’ in a comparative perspective. Tensions arise from the new constellation of sexual mores, generating fundamental social changes — most notably substantial economic transfers from men to women, loss of male power, and changing gendered identities. Lastly, the practices described are discussed in relation to the AIDS epidemic.