Youth, HIV/AIDS and the Importance of Sexual Culture and Context

This paper focuses on the socio-cultural context in which the enactment of "high-risk" youth sexual activity takes place. It is divided into two parts: the first examines the general body of research on HIV/AIDS and youth, with particular reference to South Africa; the second discusses some recent findings from ongoing ethnographic research at St. Wendolin's, a peri-urban Zulu-speaking community in Durban, on aspects of sexual culture that enhance the spread of HIV/AIDS. Currently it is estimated that between 30-40% of the adult population of KwaZulu-Natal is HIV infected.