Just be empowered: how girls are represented in a sport for development and peace HIV/AIDS prevention manual

HIV/AIDS prevention is often described as one way that sport for development and peace (SDP) organizations can contribute to international development, particularly through the empowerment of girls and young women. However, there has been little research examining how SDP organizations (re) produce gendered identities in educational texts for those identified as being at-risk for contracting HIV/AIDS, particularly girls, to justify appropriate prevention strategies. The purpose of this study was to conduct a feminist critical discourse analysis of a manual that an SDP organization uses for its HIV/AIDS prevention programme. The findings illustrate how gender was represented in static and heteronormative terms. Girls were constructed as deficient because of their minds and bodies, yet were also positioned as being responsible for preventing HIV/AIDS by becoming more self-interested and assertive. The educational texts designed to empower girls were decontextualized and reproduced neoliberal notions of development and self-governance. The implications of the findings are discussed.