I mean, let's have a look at the facts - we all have sex, it is something that everyone on the planet does and yet it is still this dark secret that no-one wants to really talk about, in an open honest idscussion - but that everyone has an opinion and/or even a judgement about.
Strange phenonmenon don't you think?
I remember in the early 80's, living in Hillbrow and having the time of my life. Remember it was still the middle of the apartheid era and many "things" were not allowed and the most ardent of the sayers of fire and brimstone were usually the most ardent partakers of "things" illegal. I lived in a block of flats that had not one but two brothels in very close proximity - I was always very amused to see the number of luxury cars parked in the street on a Sunday morning (before church of course, after church they had all disappeared), belonging to the very people who had the most to say - and yes I did see them getting into their cars whilst sneaking furtive glances around to see if anyone was looking. And yes, next week they were back again!
So there we have it, we all partake (some more than others) of sex, yet we are afraid to talk about it in the open, to educate our children and/or be educated ourselves and yet . . . when someone gets an STI or an STD, we look at them in horror and digust, because well let's face it - that person as done something quite disgusting . . they had, well um, ja um, you're going to make me say it aren't you? Yes well they had sex!
Is sex becoming a pre-teen sport?
March 03 2007 at 12:36PM
By Christina Gallagher
Reports from a Cape Town NGO specialising in sexual and reproductive health say there is a rise in the number of pre-teen girls with sexually transmitted infections - although experts believe the bigger problem lies with older youth who may not be getting enough information about STIs. At Planned Parenthood in Khayelitsha, girls as young as 11 are showing up with STIs, according to its campaign manager, Vivienne Gongota. She said it was a frightening trend and some girls were reinfected up to three times. loveLife, which operates a national sexual education outreach programme, said cases of young girls with STIs did exist, but it was "not the norm".
Mandla Ndlovu, the loveLife media director, said: "Surveys in fact suggest that more teenagers are waiting until they're older to have sex." He added that assertions of a general increase "should be substantiated with statistically valid information". Ndlovu said that compared with other countries, South African youth were generally having sex much later. A recent report from Johns Hopkins University in the US said 10 percent of South African youth have had sex by the time they are 15. The number jumped to almost 60 percent at 18 years old.
Mandla Ndlovu, the loveLife media director, said: "Surveys in fact suggest that more teenagers are waiting until they're older to have sex." He added that assertions of a general increase "should be substantiated with statistically valid information". Ndlovu said that compared with other countries, South African youth were generally having sex much later. A recent report from Johns Hopkins University in the US said 10 percent of South African youth have had sex by the time they are 15. The number jumped to almost 60 percent at 18 years old.
Most research has focused on the sexual habits of youth aged 15 and older. Little is known about the sexual practices of younger children. Dikeledi Ramongane, of Planned Parenthood Gauteng, confirmed that there were gaps in knowledge for this age group. "Youth only have information about HIV and Aids but don't have enough knowledge that STIs increase a person's chance of getting infected." Ndlovu said that often these cases of girls contracting STIs were associated with sexual abuse and linked to transactional sex. "There is a strong association between early sexual debut and unprotected sex," he said.
Ndlovu added that some young women who go to clinics for injectable contraceptives were being exposed to STIs because they were not using condoms when having, in most cases, transactional sex with older men. loveLife said some major STIs, such as syphilis, have shown a sharp decline in recent years across all age groups. Ndlovu attributed this to an increase in condom use but cautioned: "STIs can still be transmitted even with condoms, especially herpes infection, which is showing epidemic patterns similar to HIV."
Ramongane said adolescents often arrive at Planned Parenthood with symptoms such as "burning and discharge from the penis or vagina; pain in the lower abdomen; nausea; high temperature; itching or bumps on penis or vagina; or painless sores or a rash on the penis or vagina". A recent survey by Planned Parenthood Gauteng found that one-third of youth as young as 15 in Gauteng are contracting sexually transmitted diseases, yet more than half of them are not consulting a health professional. The Planned Parenthood survey, which polled youth between the ages of 16 and 21 about their reproductive health knowledge, attitudes and sexual practices, found that many were fearful of nurses perceived to be judgmental. "It has been documented that the attitudes and behaviours of health workers have an important influence on adolescents' satisfaction with reproductive health services and on their use of services and methods," said Ramongane. "Subsequent feedback sessions with nurses revealed that many nurses experience contradictions between the imperative to provide adolescent reproductive health services and personal values relating to Christianity, gender identity, reproduction and sexuality."
loveLife said it was important to begin educating young people early about sex. Ndlovu said past experience and evaluation of other HIV prevention programmes showed that sexual education for younger youth was most effective when attitudinal development, self-esteem, and self-efficacy were emphasised.
This article was originally published on page 12 of The Star on March 03, 2007
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