Youth, HIV/AIDS and the importance of sexual culture and context

Abstract This article reviews the current state of HIV/AIDS and youth research with special reference to South Africa. As a sector known to be at high risk for acquiring HIV infection, studies aimed at understanding young peoples’ vulnerability are a vitally important part of an informed response to the AIDS epidemic. Discussion focuses on the social context and contemporary sexual culture as shaping factors in the enactment of high‐risk sexual behaviour. Illustrating the importance of these factors, the author describes the rise of a particular sexual dynamic in one community in KwaZulu‐Natal, and analyses its implications for continued high rates of HIV transmission. The question emerges how best to focus research and inform efforts aimed at mediating the ‘dis‐enabling’ environments that effectively nullify safe‐sex messages.