‘They call you mother of the injection’: reproductive anxiety in the lives of rural girls in South Africa

This article examines the reproductive anxieties of girls and young women in rural Mthwalume, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, which is a context marked by high fertility expectations and limited access to confidential, non-judgemental, accessible, developmentally responsive, youth-friendly reproductive health care. Guided by African feminist and social constructionist frameworks, we analyse how fears surrounding contraception, fertility, and bodily change are shaped by intersecting cultural, institutional, and gendered pressures. Drawing on narrative data from 14 semi-structured interviews and 12 focus group discussions with 48 school-going girls aged 15-18 years, we show that reproductive anxiety is not a product of misinformation but a rational, affective response to contradictory discourses that construct motherhood as both expected and shameful. The study contributes a Global South feminist perspective on reproductive anxiety and calls for contextually grounded, dignity-affirming approaches to adolescent sexual and reproductive health.