The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationship that love and romance have to young women’s experiences of and decisions to engage in heterosexual intercourse for the first time. Inspired by Sharon Thompson’s (1995) book Going All The Way, I wanted to listen to young women’s stories about love, romance and sex in order to better understand their first sexual experiences. I have interviewed six women based on their age (18-23), on whether their first experiences with sex were both heterosexual and consensual, and on whether their decisions to have ‘sex’ for the first time were influenced by a romantic relationship. I analyse the interview transcripts, contextualizing them within the relevant literature, and explore the ways popular culture and media might have influenced the girls in my study. I am concerned with intercourse because I want to gain a better understanding of young women’s experiences with it and to recognize what love and sex might mean to them. I was surprised to find that, even with third wave feminist ‘empowerment’ discourse and hyper-sexualized media and popular culture, the six women I spoke with felt that sex is about an expression of love and a “deeper connection of intimacy” (Krissy) rather than about empowerment or the fun of ‘doing it’. Even though I required that participants needed to have been influenced by a romantic relationship in their decisions to have intercourse for the first time, it was interesting to see the extent that they valued love in their relationships when love was not part of the criteria required to participate. The findings from this study will be useful to sex educators, including myself, who work with young women as well as to parents who might be able to worry less about their daughters, knowing that some girls are looking for love and commitment when they engage in intercourse, not simply casual sex or hook-ups. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2011-06-15 12:45:08.093

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / The incidence of HIV/AIDS appears to be stabilizing in South Africa. However, it is stabilizing at an extremely high number. The South African youth are the most vulnerable to the virus with the main route of transmission being heterosexual intercourse. In South Africa KwaZulu-Natal is the epicenter for the virus, while in the Western Cape has the lowest HIV/AIDS prevalence. The aim of the study was to determine the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, behaviours and sources of HIV/AIDS information among university students at two tertiary institutions in South Africa. Method: The study was a quantitative, cross - sectional, descriptive and comparative survey. Students from the University of the Western Cape and the University of KwaZulu Natal (Westville Campus) participated in the study. The study instrument was a questionnaire which was complied from other questionnaires based on literature. The questionnaire consisted of questions to gather information pertaining to the students’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, behaviours and sources of HIV/AIDS information. The questionnaires were then tested for validity and reliability for South African students.The response rate for the questionnaires was 66% (N = 663). The main findings from the study showed that university students had a good general knowledge on HIV/AIDS.However students scored poorly in modes of HIV transmission. UKZN students scored higher than UWC students in the knowledge questionnaire. Males scored lower than females and there was also a significant association noted between age and knowledge.Students from both universities had a positive attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS. There was a significant association between age and gender in terms of attitudes. Students from UWC deemed themselves as having less of a chance of contracting the disease compared to students from UKZN. UWC on the other hand students participated in more riskier behaviours than UKZN students. The media was the main source of HIV/AIDS information for students (79.9%). In terms of religiosity many students stated that the attend places of worship infrequently (35%).Recommendations: campus health care facilities need to be more proactive in informing the students about HIV/AIDS; alcohol and substance abuse needs to be addressed along with HIV/AIDS; campuses should draw up a full course on HIV/AIDS, courses to empower female students need to be offered and ongoing research needs to be done in this area to evaluate the effectiveness of the programmes being run.