Gender is inherent in all patriarchal cultures given that women and girls in these societies are relegated to a significantly lower status than men and boys. Many researchers acknowledge the importance of addressing gender inequality in order to adequately understand and address HIV and AIDS transmission and prevention. However, there remains in this area a more direct focus on the specific cultural attitudes and practices that expose women and girls to HIV infections. Professionals in the educational field need to specifically address gender norms and roles and their influence on young people’s sexual behaviour, particularly, with regards to risky behaviour that often has consequences for women and young girls. Sexuality is part and parcel of young girls’ experiences through adulthood which is manifested in personal friendships, relations and social interaction. These encounters constitute sites within which sexual identities are developed, practiced and actively produced through processes of negotiation. As a result of societal influences, these encounters vary immensely between boys and girls because gender inequality has a significant impact on choices available to women and girls, which are often constrained by coercion and violence. Drawing on qualitative research conducted in a high school in KwaMashu, North of Durban, in KwaZulu-Natal, the study investigated ways in which young girls (16-17) give meaning to sexuality, sexual risks and how gender is embedded within these meanings. The study answered three critical questions: What do young girls regard as risky sexual behaviour? Why do young girls engage in risky sexual activities? How is gender connected to sexual risk? Data came from participants’ focus group discussions and indepth interviews with 12 young girls. The study revealed that through social and cultural practices some young girls construct complex gendered relations of domination and subordination that position boys and girls differently, often creating gender inequalities and sexual vulnerability for those gendered as girls. Young girls’ vulnerability is characterised by confusing experiences coupled with silences from their parents’ side about sexuality. The distinctive experiences are complex tensions and contradictions surrounding constructions of sexuality that are predicated upon unequal power and gender relations characterised by coercion, ukuthwala and the control of young girls’ sexuality and gendered experiences that put young girls at risk of contracting HIV and AIDS. The study recommends that parents must communicate with young people (boys and girls) about sexuality. There should be policies that are put in place by all the education stakeholders to address issues of sexuality and gender imbalances within schools. This will help young people to develop the skills needed to adequately negotiate safe sex, avoid risky behaviour and coercive situations, help young people to maintain healthy relationships and address vulnerabilities and promote gender equality and equity in our society. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

In this paper I address the problem of risky sexual behaviours among boys between 16 and 17 in an Umlazi high school, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The main question, which I address, is what boys in an Umlazi high school consider as risky sexual behaviour. My central thesis in addressing this question is exploring the boys’ risky sexual behaviours in an Umlazi high school in order to understand their risky sexual behaviours which can lead to HIV and AIDS infection. My aims and purpose in this essay are thus to understand the boys meaning of risky sexual behaviour, why do these boys in the study engage themselves in risky sexual behaviors and how does the social constructions impact on risky sexual behaviours of boys in an Umlazi high school. The research context of this study is in the domain of masculinity and sexuality. I start from premise that masculinity and sexuality are dynamic and fluid assuming that their risky sexual behaviours are the result of social construction of masculinities and sexualities. I used the qualitative methods in order to understand their world and their meaning of risky sexual behaviours. My results showed that the society shaped the boys meaning of masculinity and sexuality, their identity of being boys and attitudes towards sex and being a boy. In addition to that these boys were urging to be the boys that their society know and expect, they did not want to be different or act differently to what the society consider normal of which there is a price of being alienated or subordinated and ostracized if a boy perform alternative masculinity and sexuality and these constructions affects the girls and young women as they are expected to be permissive. Furthermore the boys aspirations in this study were geared by powerful males such as the President of South Africa in his openly polygamous relationships and they revealed that they promote polygamy which is the culture of the Zulus, so they are already practicing it by having multiple partners which they take as their prerogative as boys. In short, this paper addresses the problem of risky sexual behaviours among boys in a selected Umlazi high school by the group interview held in the research site in order to understand the boys meaning of risky sexual behaviours in an Umlazi high school. Furthermore the study explores what boys consider risky sexual behaviours, their reasons to engage themselves in risky sexual behaviours and the impact of the social construction of masculinity and sexuality. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

No abstract available. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

Both educators and parents are concerned with how best to shape sexual development because of the myriad personal and social complications that can occur for adolescents along with becoming sexually active. Many variables have been shown individually to influence sexuality. Of specific interest in this study was parent-adolescent closeness and communication about sexuality. Past research has found parental communication about sexuality and parent-adolescent closeness individually to have a positive impact on adolescent sexuality. However, other studies have found no relation between parent-adolescent communication about sexuality and sexual outcomes. Still others have suggested that the combination of the two variables may have the most significant influence on adolescent sexuality. The main goal of this study was to see if a combination of parent-adolescent closeness and parental communication about sexuality was more strongly related to adolescent sexual knowledge, attidudes, and behaviors than either communication or closeness alone. Participants were 157 boys and girls in the ninth through twelfth grades from two suburban high schools in the midwest: Questionnaire measures of adolescents' perceptions were used. Canonical correlation analyses revealed two significant combinations of variables. First, age and maternal and paternal communication were significantly related to sexual behavior and sexual knowledge. Specifically, younger age and less maternal and paternal communication were related to less sexual behavior and less sexual knowledge. Second, gender, age, and maternal communication were significantly related to less sexual knowledge and more conservative sexual attitudes. Specifically, being younger and female and receiving less maternal communication was related to less sexual knowledge and more conservative attitudes. Four important findings are evident in these results. Implications for interpretation and future research are discussed. / Department of Educational Psychology

A number of studies have attempted to describe and explain both the levels of and trend in support for abortion in the adult population and college students, yet there is a gap around abortion attitudes of adolescents. This quantitative study aims to examine the levels of knowledge and attitudes of abortion among male and female secondary school learners, to examine gender differences among the learners with regards to abortion attitudes and knowledge as well as to investigate the effect of religion in terms of abortion. A sample of 150 adolescent males and females from Grade 11 between the ages of 15 to 19 years old was chosen to be used in the study. This research study was conducted at a secondary school in a lower middle class suburb in Durban. The learners were required to complete a questionnaire measuring levels of knowledge (based on different components of the South African legislation regarding abortion, that is, the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy (CTOP) Act (1996); a rating scale of abortion attitudes (Esposito & Basow, 1995) and a short biographical component. The statistical programme SPSS 15.0 was used to analyze the data. The results show that the respondents' knowledge about South African legislation governing the act of abortion; varied, attitudes to abortion differed by gender, sexual status and the reasons for abortion. It was found that the older the person, the more positive their attitude towards the elective reasons for abortion. In this study, more positive attitudes towards abortion were prevalent in the Hindu sample as compared to the Christian sample. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, School of Political Science, Criminology and Sociology (Criminology) 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy)--Miami University, Dept. of Educational Leadership, 2009. / Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. Xx-Xx).

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2009. / A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Population Health, Department of Public Health Sciences. Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on November 8, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 128-138).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-138). Also available in print.