Young people often look to whether they think their partners are ‘clean’ or ‘unclean’ before embarking on a sexual relationship with them, rather than finding out if there are any health risks. In a recent study, researchers discovered that factors such as this influence a young person’s sexual practices, and the patterns are very similar across the world. As nearly half of new HIV infections across the world occur in people aged 15 to 24 years, the changes in sexual behaviour in this group is vital to stem the spread of disease. The findings of this study could help to guide people to more successful safe-sex practices. The results also offer an insight into why so many HIV programmes haven’t been effective. These programmes usually focus on non-social reasons to explain why teens and young adults don’t use condoms, such as ignorance and barriers to access. As a result, all these programmes offer is advice about sex and condoms, without really looking into the social factors that affect them which is dangerous as it is too generic to factor in everyone and their own views on sex.
Researchers found seven common themes, five of which relate to sexual behaviour in general and two pertaining to condom use. The results could point to possible reasons why a teen would put themselves under risk sexually when they find themselves in such a situation. When it comes to condom use, it’s important that both boys and girls use perception to determine the need for condom protection. There are a number of reasons why people don’t feel the need to use condoms – one man in a study stated ‘depends how easy she is’ as a reason for not always using protection. All of the societies studied had a strikingly similar expectation of sexual behaviour in both genders, with men expected to be extremely heterosexually active and women chaste. Because they fear shameful and embarrassing labels, many women don’t want to say yes immediately to a man’s sexual advances. But researchers state that this ‘no’ is difficult to interpret. For men, there is also the stigma attached to a lack of experience in bed or not going out with a lot of women.
Since the advent of HIV and AIDs, there have been many more studies surrounding sexual behaviour. Many of these have focused on changing sexual practices. While the information gathered in these studies is useful, researchers claim that it isn’t as useful for understanding the reasons for the behaviour itself. Qualitative research helps to describe, they say, as well as find the reasons for it surrounding the social context. The results could explain why a woman would neglect to use a condom despite having plenty of knowledge on the subject as well as access to protection. From the seven themes, policy makers could help to create a local profile of factors that influence sexual behaviours. This could be a great template for briefing public health authorities to see which sexual health campaigns will be most useful. One idea for further research is to look at the sexual behaviour of deviants, who don’t follow the norm when it comes to sexual practices. More research could focus on men who refuse intercourse and why, for example. Or it may look into what makes people who demand condoms even with long-term partners, and what makes them different to their peers. There is much scope for more in-depth safe-sex campaigns.
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