AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviour among South African street youth: Reflections on power, sexuality and the autonomous self

Street children in South Africa are, in the main, between the ages of 11 and 17 years. Rape, prostitution, sexual bartering and exchange, casual sex and romantic sexual relationships all occur in the experiences of young people who live and work on inner-city streets. In this study, the AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of 141 street youth, living in seven large cities in South Africa, were elicited in focus group discussions. At the time of the study, 79 boys (56%) were living in shelters run by nongovernmental and welfare organisations, while 62 boys (44%) were sleeping “rough”. The results, both qualitative and quantitative, indicated that the AIDS knowledge of South African street children was comparable to levels reported for groups of “hard-to-reach” youth in other parts of the world. Fear of HIV infection did not appear in a list of day-to-day priorities constructed by the children, a list dominated by survival concerns with food, money and clothes. However, more than half of the boys conceded that they engaged in sex for money, goods or protection, several boys indicated that they had been raped, and most reported being sexually active with “girlfriends”, who themselves frequently engaged in transactional sex. The findings are interpreted in terms of the relationships between power dynamics surrounding race and age, and how they affect self-initiated controls over sexuality and sexual protection.