Youth in Dialogue - Nelson Mandela Foundation

HANDY FACTS
Why are women
more vulnerable to
infection than men
• Biological factors: The
vaginal lining is more
susceptible to infection, so
unprotected vaginal sex is
more dangerous for a woman
than for a man.
• Social factors: Women have
less say in when, how and
with whom they have sex,
and women in relationships
may not be able to negotiate
for monogamy or safer sex
practices. Women are also
victims of sexual violence and
domestic violence. Women
are less likely to have a say in
what kind of HIV prevention
methods they use when they
do have sex. There are few
safer sex methods that are
female controlled, and none
that can be used without her
partner’s knowledge.
• Economic factors: Because
women in South Africa
and single mothers in
particular are economically
disadvantaged, their
access to health care is
compromised. Women in
violent relationships are
also limited in their ability to
leave because they have few
economic resources. Poor
women have less access to
information and resources
that will help them make
informed choices. HIVpositive
women who are poor
also cannot make healthy
lifestyle choices or access
drugs that may keep them
healthy for longer.
Source: http://www.
womensnet.org.za/hivaids/
aids.htm
you get what I’m
saying Yes, we
want sugar daddies
because my friend
is wearing Levi’s
and I also want to
wear Levi’s.
Phindile
Sometimes you
don’t want to test
and then you go
ahead having sex
without knowing
your status and in
that way you spread HIV/
AIDS.
And then there is a point
made about sometimes a
person likes bling-blings, these
nice cars and these expensive
cellphones. Sometimes you do
have a choice to say no, but
the problem is you are being
pressured to do these things.
Imagine someone like me, let’s
say I’m 16 years old and then
the person, maybe the one who
drives the Golf 5, is 48 years
old, I mean there’s nothing I
can tell him because firstly this
person is older.
Richard
Okay you girls, let’s say you’re
dating someone with a car,
you love this person because
of the car. When he leaves the
car maybe and he takes off the
jewellery, what do you then
see Do you still see something
in him, something attracting
you to him
You guys, most of the time
there’s a lot we can do but what
we do is sit at the street corners.
We smoke, a mother walks by
and you trip them and take
their money; when you think
about it, this person was just
making a life for their kids, they
are a parent, isn’t it So what is
good in that Let’s stop this not
using our brains. This person
An audience member participates in the Mhluzi dialogue.
is trying to make a life for their
kids, what if this happened to
your parents, you wouldn’t like
it, get me
Hlengiwe
With most of us, there’s a lack
of communication between
parents and their children. And
then, when a 16-year-old child
is sleeping with a 38-year-old
person, how do you feel And
you are a young child getting
into a Golf 4 of a man with a
six-year-old child, how do you
feel
And Tshepo, I just want to
tell you that it’s not that girls
are forward, boys have got
sweet words so that we girls
can get pressured. A boy can
pressurise a girl with anything,
you can tell her sweet words,
you can buy her gifts and if the
girl is stupid, she will do it.
Girls are not forward, it’s
that our backgrounds are
not the same. One can be
pressurised by a friend and one
thing for sure is that we come
from different families. I have
girlfriends, they pressurise me
to date a guy who’ll buy me
Levi’s. If you’re going to laugh
as a girl and make excuses, you
will pressurise yourself and
be pressurised but when you
say “No I don’t want to,” your
“no” must be clear. Don’t mince
your words.
28 YOUTH IN DIALOGUE