Machismo, Marianismo and Single Women’s Sexual Agency in the Aruban Context: A qualitative exploration of the experiences of single women in Aruba who engage in casual sexual encounters with men

This study examined the way single women in Aruba approach casual sex. The way they perceive it, conduct it, and the messages they’ve received about sex in general. The central aim of this study was to provide an answer to the question about how single women navigate casual sexual encounters on Aruba. The theoretical framework developed for this study consisted of looking at the local gendered values in place. Aruba’s religious background has cultivated a culture of marianismo and machismo, two concepts interacting and impacting the dynamics between men and women in Aruba. Marianismo, a term stemming from the worship of the Virgin Mary, depicts women as and requires them to act as semi-divine beings. After conducting fourteen interviews, the findings resulted in six themes in which it became clear that: men can be considered masters of the casual sex domain, women feel empowered through detachment, reputation management being central in these interactions, women remaining in sexually precarious situations, sex as a subject of major taboo within Aruban families, and sex as an act to leave outside home. ‘Men’ and ‘family’ are two of the forces impacting these women’s sexual experiences through taboos and shaming practices. This has resulted in women’s casual sexual activities being pushed into more ‘underground’ space, where their precarious position is amplified.