Sexuality and the limits of agency among South African teenage women: Theorising femininities and their connections to HIV risk practises

► Women's sexual relationships are shaped by femininities. ► Having the right boyfriends and being desirable are critical to self-evaluation. ► Women's agency was chiefly in partner choice, afterwards men were in control. ► Femininities differed, but many women expressed culturally rewarded acquiescence. ► Understanding this is critical for interventions to engage women in HIV prevention.