14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists have made a meta analysis of 268 studies of sexual behavior in 10 to 25 years old youth from U.K., Australia, Mexico, Sweden, U.S. and South Africa published between 1990 and 2004.
They wanted to see what makes youth put themselves into risky sexual situations. "Since nearly half of new HIV infections worldwide occur among people aged 15 to 24 years, changing sexual behavior in this group is crucial to tackling the disease's spread."
"The results also explain why many HIV programs have not been effective," said Dr. Cicely Marston of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The study has proved that - in all countries - social expectations of how men and women should behave influences the results of safe sex campaigns.
Typically, anti-HIV campaigns focus on non-social reasons to explain the lack of using condoms, including ignorance and access barriers. "Therefore, programs that merely provide information and condoms, without addressing the crucial social factors identified are only tackling part of the problem."
There is a tendency to try and guess the HIV status of potential partners using unreliable indicators such as appearance, or how well they know them, to classify them as "clean" (healthy, secure) or "unclean" in order to use condom. Young women often feel they will be labeled as promiscuous if they carry condoms, and young men often will have sex when they get the opportunity, whether they have a condom or not. Young people find it hard to even discuss the possibility of sex with potential partners, which makes it difficult planning condom use.
In a study, a British man stated: "Depends how 'easy' she is. If she'd sleep with me the first night, I'd wear a condom. But if I met a girl who weren't that type of girl and started seeing her regular, then I'd trust her. I don't like wearing them."
All over the world, men were expected to be highly heterosexually active, and women very truthful. Men seeking sexual pleasure around is seen as normal, but a woman with a similar sexual behavior can be branded as "loose" or "cheap."
This labeling makes many women avoid accepting directly a man's sexual advances. That's why the first rejection is difficult to interpret.
A South African young man said, "When [women] say 'no' they mean 'yes'. [A woman] can never come out clearly and say 'let's do it'. You need to read her facial expression? If she keeps on saying 'no' and closing her eyes, she wants it [sex]."
Young men are haunted by the lack of experience or not succeeding to score with a female. "Young men not having sex with their girlfriends may be accused of being 'gay.' Some worry they will be unable to achieve penetration, and may even avoid condom use for fear of loss of erection," found the researchers.
"Qualitative research helps describe, and find the reasons for, behavior and its social context".
This study pinpoints themes which could make safe-sex campaigns more likely to score. Marston said. 'Giving out condoms and information is vital, but it is not enough. Even where young people know about the importance of condoms, social factors - in particular stereotypes about how men and women should behave and a reluctance to talk openly about sex - hamper their use. Safer sex campaigns need to tackle these issues if they are to succeed'.