'I think condoms are good but, aai, I hate those things': condom use amongadolescents and young people in a Southern African township

Levels of heterosexually transmitted HIV infection are high amongst South A frican youth, with one recent survey reporting levels of 18.9% amongst 17-2 0 year olds and 43.1% amongst 21-25 year olds. In these groups levels of kn owledge about HIV are high, but perceived vulnerability and reported condom use are low. Much existing research into youth HIV in developing countries relies on survey measures which use individual knowledge, attitudes and re ported behaviour as variables in seeking to explain HIV transmission amongs t this group. This paper reports on a focus group study that seeks to compl ement existing individual-level quantitative findings with qualitative find ings highlighting community and social factors that hinder condom use among st youth in the township of Khutsong, near Carletonville. Study informants comprised 44 young women and men in the 13-25 year age group. Data analysis highlighted six factors hindering condom use: lack of perceived risk; peer norms; condom availability: adult attitudes to condoms and sex; gendered p ower relations and the economic context of adolescent sexuality. Informants did not constitute a homogenous group in terms of their understandings of sexuality. While there was clear evidence for the existence of dominant soc ial norms which place young peoples' sexual health at risk, there was also evidence that many young people are self-consciously critical of the norms that govern their sexual behaviour, despite going along with them, and that they are aware of the way in which peer and gender pressures place their h ealth at risk. There was also evidence that a minority of youth actively ch allenge dominant norms and behave in counter-normative and health-enhancing ways. The actively contested nature of dominant sexual norms provides a fe rtile starting point for peer education programmes that seek to provide the context for the collective negotiation of alternative sexual norms that do not endanger young peoples' sexual health. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.