While SA's youth are unquestionably sexually active, they have strong views on the role of HIV/AIDS in sexual encounters.
This was one of the key findings of a Praekelt Foundation Youth Sex Survey released yesterday.
Conducted on its YoungAfricaLive mobile platform, the study provided insight into the sexual behaviour and beliefs of SA's youth.
The study is based on over 50 questions and over 138 954 responses. Some 44% of the respondents revealed they are sexually active, with 81% equating 'not telling a sexual partner that you carry the virus' to outright murder.
In other findings, the survey showed that 66% of the responders identified themselves as less likely to have sex after they had been drinking, with 33% admitting they would be more likely to.
Circumcised partners
According to the Praekelt Foundation, the good news for national government's drive to use circumcision as part of an overall HIV prevention programme, a huge number of females (78%) stated that they prefer their partner circumcised.
The YoungAfricaLive Youth Sex Survey results were released by the Praekelt Foundation during the GSMA mHealth (Mobile Health) Summit, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 6 to 9 June.
The survey is based on polls run on the YoungAfricaLive platform since December 2010. The polls' responders are all YoungAfricaLive users (currently, YoungAfricaLive can only be accessed on the Vodacom platform, Vodafone Live), with 51% being over 16 but under 24, and 35% over 24 but under 35.
The split between male and female appears to be relatively even although the latter are visibly more active on the comments section of the platform, notes the Praekelt Foundation.
It says the fact that use of the YoungAfricaLive platform is free for users - who can access it even if they don't have airtime - has added to its extensive reach.
Says Gustav Praekelt, founder of the Praekelt Foundation: “Since our launch in December 2009, YoungAfricaLive has grown to become SA's largest mobile community for young people.
“We now stand at around 360 000 unique users and we're growing at a rate of 30 000 new users a month who are using the platform as a place to talk to each other and educate themselves about sex, love and relationships.
“It's this thundering mass of young, engaged South Africans whose sexual behaviour and views we are now seeing in our first-ever YoungAfricaLive Youth Sex Survey.”
Devastating illness
What's striking about the polls used to drive the Youth Sex Survey is how responsive the users are with a question like “Would You Abstain From Sex?” drawing 5 085 responses (37% yes, 44% no and 17% maybe), the Praekelt Foundation points out.
Similarly, it adds, a question about how far SA has come in the fight against HIV/AIDS elicited a massive 7 900 responses, with 62% stating it was a “devastating illness that is killing our youth. More needs to be done.”
Tamsen de Beer of content company Traffik, and content editor of YoungAfricaLive, says since the platform began running polls, the interaction by users has exploded. “If we put a poll on the homepage of the platform it gets pretty much an instant response from our users,” she explains.
“We use news and entertainment stories to spark debate around the bigger questions of love, sex and relationships - and youths are ready and willing to share their own experiences with each other.”
Money and sex
The foundation also notes that a question around 'how many wives is too many' also earned a strong response from users, with 79% saying one is enough. In another popular poll, 82% of users confessed to preferring money to sex.
Praekelt points to the fact that some of the responses that have emerged in the Youth Sex Survey are cause for concern.
For instance, he notes, a worrying 40% of respondents believe “the sexual exploitation of schoolgirls by their teachers is a two-way street” with only 35% believing it is “always an abuse of power”. Even more worrying, he adds, is the belief by 23% of YoungAfricaLive users that one in four South African men rape because “too many women wear revealing clothes”.
“But the power of this platform is that it is their peers who can start to point users in the direction of the right message - stepping in as educators in the absence of parents for instance,” comments Praekelt.
“It's this youth-to-youth interaction that was the starting point for YoungAfricaLive and its users are proving that it's the right mechanism to give young South Africans a safe place to gain knowledge and make their feelings known - not just about HIV/AIDS and sex, but also about love and relationships.”
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