'I'd never share a needle'…[but I often have unsafe sex]: Considering the paradox of young people's sex and drugs talk

Abstract

Results from a national survey of young homeless people aged between 12 and 25 in Australia, revealed a marked contrast between the mainly safe injecting practices and the mainly unsafe sexual practices of a subgroup who injected drugs. This paper offers an analysis of the selfreported sexual and drug injecting behaviours of 178 young people and the qualitative accounts of injecting drug use and sexual behaviour of a smaller group of thirty who were interviewed as part of the larger sample. Young people's stories of the culture and practices surrounding injecting were encouraging in the attention given to notions of responsibility and care for others, and a coherent discourse of belief in`safe' injecting practices was evident. A notion of the`druggie' or responsible drug user was contrasted with the`junkie' or irresponsible user, within the culture of drug use described. Conversely, reported sexual behaviours revealed neither consistent discourses about safe sex, nor an unambiguously expressed personal commitment to safe sex. Analysis of the differences between sex and drug use talk, and the potential implications for intervention, are considered.

HIV-Risk Behavior Among Injecting or Non-Injecting Drug Users in Cape Town, Pretoria, and Durban, South Africa

“…This was potentially related to the users' level of drug dependence (Hillier, Dempsey, and Harrison, 1999). With regard to the context of drug use, NIDUs often used drugs together where as IDU populations remained hidden from mainstream society, choosing to inject alone, with a partner or only with few friends.…”

“Group sex” parties and other risk patterns: A qualitative study about the perceptions of sexual behaviours and attitudes of adolescents in Soweto, South Africa

“…The role of sex to strengthen or maintain a relationship is well documented (Bayley, 2003; Foreman, 2003; Hillier, Dempsey, & Harrison, 1999; Marston & King, 2006; Nuko, Chiduo, Mwaluko, & Urassa, 2001; Nyanzi, Pool, & Kinsman, 2001; Varga, 2000). Young females in particular engage in sexual relationships with males as a means of maintaining the relationship.…”

Learning from the past: young Indigenous people's accounts of blood-borne viral and sexually transmitted infections as resilience narratives

“…Previous research has highlighted the association between condoms and casual partners or condoms and new partners (East et al 2007) where continued use in longer-term partnerships or relationships where familiarity and trust has been built becomes problematic. Condom free sex signifies trust and abandoning condoms in a relationship becomes a symbolic marker of love and commitment (Hillier et al 1999;Kirkman et al 1998). Prioritising trust or love means that young people in our study who contracted an infection are resisting a strategy (condoms) that would likely have prevented their earlier infection and any future infection.…”