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Following the landmark 2003 Ontario Court of Appeal decision legalizing same‐sex marriage, some same‐sex couples sought to formalize their unions through legal marriage. The purpose of this paper is to explore the personal and political reflections of recently married same‐sex couples on the meaning of their marriages for themselves, their partners, their community as well as the implications for progressive social change in the broader social world.

An ethnographic approach was employed to semi‐structured in‐depth qualitative interviews with six lesbian and gay couples.

An emerging thesis is that, while seeking access to a most conventional and conformist institution, same‐sex couples inadvertently become “cutting edge” couples as they make public their declarations of love and commitment and model new and challenging notions of marriage.

The paper provides a snapshot of a small number of interviews that took place approximately 11 months after the Ontario Court of Appeal decision.

Law should take into account the importance of social and legal recognition of marriage for all. The heteronormativity of marriage is thus challenged from within, to make these types of marriages truly cutting edge.

The paper provides evidence of the personal and political reflections of people who had the choice to get married and did, at a time when this was seen as really cutting edge. Few personal accounts exist which provide a picture of the continued importance of marriage to human beings.

Zandile is an autobiographical play about Mlophe’s childhood. It begins with her living with her Gogo (her grandmother) in Durban and then being forcefully removed to live with her mother, Lulama, in the Transkei. The play focuses on Zandile and her development as she becomes an adult woman as well as her awareness of the tensions between traditional and Western expectations, political conflicts and social pressures. Zandile, Gogo (Zandile’s grandmother), Lulama (Zandile’s mother), Bongi (Zandile’s imaginary friend) and Lindiwe (Zandile’s friend) are women whose lives are directly and indirectly affected by the rules of the apartheid regime. The play skews the emphasis away from the oppression of African men and provides a space for the women to tell their personal stories of struggle, identity, harassment, dreams, expectations and journeys. Throughout the play the men are mentioned, but are not seen. Zandile provides the reader with an insight into the lives of three generations of African women, and the impact of the political situation on their disparate reactions highlight the conflicting interpretations of the African woman’s role in theatre, at home, as an activist, and the woman’s duty – to her husband, family and the struggle.

There are seven main characters of which five are women: Sindiswa, Mia, Susan, Thenjiwe and Nicky. The other two characters, Glen and Zaccaria, represent males from very different socio-economic and political backgrounds. The character of Dumasani, a young boy, is referred to in the play. What makes the play especially significant is that of a cast of seven, five are women. Throughout the play the character of Glen, a spy for the apartheid government, reveals the manipulative and deceitful manner in which the members of the South African police force and political informers carried out their work. He forms relationships with people about whom he professes to care; however, his only concern is that they are able to provide information that will secure financial reward for his spying activities for the apartheid government. Born in the RSA offers the audience an interesting exchange of ideas and thoughts about the political, economic and social situation in apartheid South Africa. Through the exploration of narratives and improvisation a landscape of violence is thrown open. A landscape of violence, that is not only physical, but also psychological. The play presents a complex situation in which violence does not only come from one source but from various sources such as the government, the youth, the opposition parties, the comrades, the private domestic space, subversive activities and political organisations. Any opposition to government policies results in harsher and more extreme violence by the apartheid regime strengthening their oppressive forces.

The herstory of African women is one of sexualised forms of political violence which was used by the apartheid government to control women. African women were the ones who suffered the loss of sons, husbands, brothers and fathers, and who had to fend for themselves in the homelands or Bantustans. Ending women’s oppression was high on the agenda of the democratically elected government in 1994 and women’s groups lobbied consistently to ensure that gender equity was a priority. The violence in South Africa against women can be equated with a civil war on women’s bodies. There is saddening attitude of normalizing the violence committed against women and children. During the apartheid regime the dominant white group used violence to regulate the lives of African people and to remind them constantly of their subordinate status. This was not confined only to public and political spaces such as white and non-white signs on benches, beaches, shops and post offices but also penetrated private and domestic spaces. Black African men and women were subjected to conditions that perpetuated inequality, extreme disparities between the poor and the rich, violence in prisons and humiliating experiences of police harassment. Institutionalised racism led to feelings of inferiority and a lack of self-worth which contributed to acts to violence. The provision of a public space in which to voice women’s experiences of apartheid is essential as it is a contribution to a documentary record of the herstory of South Africa and to uncover the truth about the sacrifices that women have made. There is a crisis of violence against women – we need to seriously consider the dismantling of patriarchy. The concept of emancipation must involve societal transformation, women’s interests and gender interests in order to improve the status of women relative to that of men. The marginal role that women play in the occupational division of labour should be transformed to a central one. The struggle should now become a gender-conscious struggle for the new transformed South Africa.