Feeling Under Pressure: Perspectives of the Meaning of Love and Sexual Relationships Amongst Young Men in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

Abstract

This study aimed to explore perspectives on the meaning of love and sexual relations amongst young men in KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Gaining insights into these perspectives will help to understand the sexual behaviors of these young men better and to eventually develop more effective HIV prevention interventions. Focus group discussions were conducted in two study areas using a predetermined semistructured discussion guide. The findings indicate that the phenomenon of romantic relationship try-outs together with the idea of “feeling under pressure” to propose love to more than one woman seem to be accepted practices that often lead to multiple concurrent sexual partners and therefore potentially risky sexual behaviors. The fear of impregnating a woman is seen to be of a more significant concern than acquiring a sexually transmitted infection due to the stigma and embarrassment associated with pregnancy outside marriage. Given these findings, it is recommended that future studies investigate perspectives on sexuality and reproductive health in male populations in great detail prior to the development of behavioral change interventions because failure to do so may hamper well-intended but poorly targeted health interventions.

Making sense of fidelity: young Africans’ cross-national and longitudinal representations of fidelity and infidelity in their HIV-related creative narratives, 1997–2014

“…Manyaapelo et al ( 2019 ) and Swartz, Colvin, and Harrison ( 2016 ) draw attention to the male and female experiences with and sense-making around multiple concurrent relationships in South Africa. Manyaapelo et al’s male participants describe the pressure amongst male peers to demonstrate their masculinity via sexual prowess.…”

“…This discrepancy points to the importance of ongoing ethnographic surveillance of youth sense-making around HIV risk and the social drivers of risk in order to inform a response grounded in youth needs. Manyaapelo et al (2019) and Swartz, Colvin, and Harrison (2016) draw attention to the male and female experiences with and sense-making around multiple concurrent relationships in South Africa. Manyaapelo et al's male participants describe the pressure amongst male peers to demonstrate their masculinity via sexual prowess.…”

<i>I Show Her My Feelings</i>: Young Black Men and the Doing of Love in a South African Township

“…In South Africa, there is growing consensus among researchers about the significance of love in the lives of young people (Bhana and Pattman, 2011;Bhana, 2018;Willan et al, 2019). Yet, much of this research has almost exclusively conceptualised love against the backdrop of gendered and endemic epidemics: HIV, poverty, and gender-based violence (Mgwaba and Maharaj, 2018;Manyaapelo et al, 2019). This has served to identify love primarily as a site of vulnerability, especially for young women.…”