I am circumcised so HIV/AIDS can't touch me!? Young Black African University Men and Narratives of Masculinity

Male circumcision, or removal of the foreskin, is a rite of passage in many communities, and one that is entangled and steeped in tradition and culturally (constructed) normatives and deeply embedded expectations. Male medical circumcision is a much more recently initiated medical procedure that is promoted in sub-Saharan Africa as part of the arsenal of HIV / AIDS preventative strategies meant to aid in combating the rampant spread of the pandemic. Many scholars point to the Higher Education context as (already) being a space for experimental and risky sexual behaviours. Male university students in turn comprise an important communitt; in interventions against HIV /AIDS and medical male circumcision is seen as one such intervention. This study proceeds through the lens of social constructionism and the qualitative narratives shared by young Black African (circumcised) university students, to shed light on male students' understanding of the 'benefits' of medical male circumcision or MMC. The findings reveal that while some students see the benefits of medical circumcision in the context of reducing susceptibility to sexually transmitted diseases and HIV I AIDS, other students believe that they are rendered insusceptible and 'immune' and cannot contract the disease due to being medically circumcised, additionally compounding and placing the male students and their partners at serious risk. The study shows how densely knitted constructions of African masculinity and manhood circulating within the campus may potentially retard the health benefit effects of medical circumcision by throwing light on male students' sexual practices at the University ofKwaZulu-Natal.