'Something for something': the importance of talking about transactional sex with youth in South Africa using a resilience-based approach
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2014
TITLE AUTHOR(S): I.Van der Heijden, S.Swartz
KEYWORDS: GAUTENG PROVINCE, HIV/AIDS, LIMPOPO PROVINCE, RISK BEHAVIOUR, SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR, TRANSACTIONAL SEX, YOUTH
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 8240
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/2385
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/2385
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
Transactional sex is a common feature of sexual relationships in South Africa but has severe health implications for those who engage in it. This paper presents perspectives on transactional sex based on interviews and focus group discussions with young people in Gauteng and Limpopo, South Africa. The discussions were part of an evaluation of a peer education programme promoting HIV prevention called Vhutshilo, aimed at 14-16 year olds. The session on transactional sex entitled 'Something for Something' evoked strong responses from youth. Youth recognised transactional sex as a common phenomenon in their communities and associated it with many risks. However, when comparing young people's qualitative responses to the impact of the session as measured by the quantitative impact survey, no significant differences were discernible between youth in the programme and those in a control group who were not exposed to the session. Further analysis showed that the content of the session was limited to the negative consequences and health risks of transactional sex and focused mostly on the adverse contexts in South Africa that force youth into such relationships. The session did little to situate transactional relationships within the everyday realities of sexual decision making and youth values of peer status and consumerism. We argue that the session's findings reveal a narrow understanding of the dynamic contexts under which transactional sex occurs and fails to take into account the resilience of youth to make choices of whether or not to engage in such relationships, and how they can engage in these types of relationships safely. We conclude that HIV prevention curriculums need to leverage youth resilience and protective skills within the confines of difficult economic and social circumstances to allow them to successfully navigate safer sexual relationships.-
Related Research Outputs:
- Rapid appraisal of substance abuse and HIV awareness messages in poster communication to disadvantaged youth in South Africa
- Youth voices about sex and AIDS: implications for life skills education through the 'Learning Together' project in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Building protective factors to offset sexually risky behaviors among black youths: a randomized control trial
- Age-disparate and intergenerational sex in southern Africa: the dynamics of hypervulnerability
- South African national HIV prevalence, incidence, behaviour and communication survey, 2008: a turning tide among teenagers?
- Behaviour changes in sexual behavioural practices among South African youth
- 'Die mense sal dit nog aanvaar': perceptions of teenage pregnancy in South Africa
- Innovative mobilization strategies for attracting at risk youth and young adults to participate in community-based voluntary counselling and testing in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa (Project Accept - HPTN 043)
- HIV and youth: a behavioural perspective
- Young South Africans' views on, and perceptions of, abstinence and faithfulness
- Risk group or group at risk
- South Africa youths' higher-risk sexual behaviour: an eco-developmental analysis
- Abstinence among SA youth: is there buy-in?
- HIV knowledge, attitudes, and sexual behaviour among tourism workers in Gauteng province, South Africa
- Determinants of age at sexual debut and associated risks among South African youths
- A community-based study to examine the effect of a youth HIV prevention programme in South Africa
- The use of dual or two methods for pregnancy and HIV prevention amongst 18-24-year-olds in a cross-sectional study conducted in South Africa
- Adolescent pregnancy and associated factors in South African youth
- "How can I gain skills if I don't practice?": the dynamics of prohibitive silence against pre-marital pregnancy and sex in Zimbabwe
- Mental health and HIV sexual risk behaviour among University of Limpopo students