Starting early with the boys

It's a common belief among men, especially in South Africa, that women have no rights when it comes to dictating sexual behaviour. There's even a suggestion that women who don't agree to have sex with their male partners are being abusive.

Popular beliefs such as these are tough to break down but, according to a recently formed NGO called Targeted AIDS Intervention (TAI), these perceptions can be eradicated. In one of the first surveys conducted by the organisation with boys aged between nine and 16 at 20 schools in KwaZulu-Natal, preliminary studies show that the age of sexual debut is moving from 14 and 15 years to older groups, a change in behaviour that appears to be linked to specific interventions in school settings.

The survey also showed that out of a target group of 173 schoolboys of varying ages, 109 had remained sexually inactive at the age of 14 and 15. But of the 64 who were sexually active, 23 had experienced sex between the ages of 14 and 15. The survey was done at schools in Zululand, Greytown, Mpumuza, Nottingham Road and Dannhauser.

Addressing delegates at the Medical Research Council's AIDS Forum meeting at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, on 1 September, TAI's administrator, Gaetane LeGrange, said young boys, particularly those of schoolgoing age, had become marginalised in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

"There is so much emphasis placed on infection in women that we overlook the desperate need for intervention for young boys," she said. She said that one of the ongoing concerns was still the number of boys as young as nine and 10 who were experimenting with sex. Although sexually immature, they were mimicking what happened in crowded settings where privacy is a luxury, she said.

LeGrange said her organisation believed in targeting boys at a young age. "We know now that mindsets can be changed and teenagers are more likely to accept counselling and testing than older men. Perhaps it is radical, but we believe that condoms should be available in schools and so should counselling and testing facilities."

The sharing of personal experiences had also helped to uncover the myths and beliefs surrounding early sex, said LeGrange. These included a belief that a build-up of sperm could lead to madness, and that "wet dreams" signalled the time when a boy shuold indulge in his first sexual encounter. Other perceptions were that HIV/AIDS was solely a woman's disease.

LeGrange said that TAI's "Shoshaloza" project, in which peer educators encouraged boys to discuss sexuality and issues surrounding HIV, had been established in at least 18 schools in the province.