New infections with HIV remain an urgent problem among young people in Africa, but many young Africans pursue sexual relationships with little thought about the epidemic. This book examines young people's sexual relationships in a region typical of rural sub-Saharan Africa and investigates why the risk of HIV infection generally was not a salient concern for them. It is based on an extraordinarily large and representative qualitative study that was affiliated with an adolescent sexual health intervention trial and included three person-years of participant observation conducted by young East Africans in nine Tanzanian villages.
The book describes typical patterns of sexual relationship formation in adolescence and early adult life, the variety of young people's relationships and practices, and the contradictory social ideals and expectations that led premarital and extramarital relationships to be concealed. Young men's main motivations for sex were pleasure and masculine identity, while young women's was to receive money or materials to meet their basic needs, such as soap or a daytime meal. By their late teens most young people had experienced one-time sexual encounters, open-ended opportunistic relationships, and "main" sometimes semi-public partnerships. Relationships could involve desire, possessiveness, and affection, but romantic idealization of a partner was rare. Many young people expected their partners to be monogamous, but themselves had had concurrent relationships by age 20. The practice of hiding premarital sexual relationships from adults often also concealed them from other sexual partners, which helped maintain concurrency and inhibited realistic risk perception. Understanding of the biology of HIV/AIDS was very limited. Condoms were rarely used because they were associated with reduced pleasure, infection and promiscuity. Sexually transmitted infections were common, but several factors hindered young people from seeking biomedical treatment for them. Many instead relied on tradit
Autorentext
Mary Plummer is a consultant to the UK Medical Research Council's Social and Public Health Sciences Unit. She lives in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Daniel Wight leads the Sexual Health and Families Program at the UK Medical Research Council's Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow, Scotland.
Zusammenfassung
This book examines young African's sexual relationships in the context of village life. It is based on a large in-depth qualitative study in Tanzania, in a region typical of rural sub-Saharan Africa. It describes how dominant community values both discouraged and encouraged adolescent sexual activity. Young people managed these contradictions by concealing their sexual activity, contributing to short-term and/or overlapping relationships. Most adolescents had sex by age 15, but girls were often 5-10 years younger than their partners, and their relationships typically involved more frequent sexual encounters than those of same-aged boys. Motivations to have sex are examined, particularly its importance to masculine identity and its role in meeting young women's basic material needs, such as soap or respectable clothing. By their late teens most young people had experienced three types of sexual relationship: one-time sexual encounters; open-ended relationships involving occasional encounters; and 'main' semi-public partnerships involving frequent sexual contact. Relationships could involve desire, possessiveness, and affection, but romantic idealization of a partner was rare. Many young people expected their partners to be monogamous, but themselves had had concurrent relationships by age 20. Women generally married by age 20 and men by 25, with couples often having met about one month earlier. Marital couples usually spent little time together, and emotional intimacy was not highly valued. About one-third of marriages involved one husband and multiple wives. Extramarital sex, separation and divorce were fairly common. This book details factors shaping young people's sexual health, including access to, and beliefs about, condoms and other contraception. Condoms were rarely used because they were associated with reduced pleasure, infection and promiscuity. Sexually transmitted infections were fairly common, but several factors hindered young people from seeking biomedical treatment for them. Many instead relied on traditional medicine, as they did for contraception, induced abortion, and fertility promotion. Understanding of the biology of HIV/AIDS was very limited, and people with AIDS were sometimes believed to be bewitched with a non-infectious, curable illness. The book concludes by identifying key economic and cultural barriers to reducing sexual risk behavior, as well as factors that potentially facilitate risk reduction.
Inhalt
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Research Methods
Chapter 3: Village Life
Chapter 4: Children's Relationships with Parents, Peers and Teachers
Chapter 5: Contradictory Sexual Norms and Expectations
Case Study Series 1: "We'll Have Sex Again When the Opportunity Arises": Typical Young People's Lives and Premarital Sexual Relationships
Chapter 6: Unmarried Young People's Sexual Relationships
Chapter 7: Sexual Negotiation, Exchange, and Coercion
Chapter 8: Sexual Practices
Case Study Series 2: "He told me, 'Just come and live at my home'": Typical Young People's Experience of Marriage and Divorce
Chapter 9: Married Young People's Sexual Relationships
Chapter 10: Contraception, Abortion, and Fertility
Chapter 11: HIV/AIDS and Other Sexually Transmitted Infections
Case Study Series 3: "The Fever Went Away But Always Returned": HIV-Positive Young People's Lives and Sexual Relationships
Chapter 12: Barriers and Facilitators of Sexual Risk Reduction