First mobile sex survey a hit
2011-06-09 22:40
Pietermaritzburg - The very first sex survey using a mobile platform as a conduit has proved to be a big hit with youngsters around the country, drawing over 138 000 frank responses.
The YoungAfricaLive Youth Sex Survey was based on polls run since last December.
The 138 954 participants, 51% of whom were between the ages of 16 and 24, and 35% of whom were over 24 years but under 35, are all YoungAfricaLive users.
The YoungAfricaLive is a free, interactive mobile platform currently available only to Vodacom subscribers.
It was developed by the Praekelt Foundation as a portal for the youth to engage and educate each other on issues relating to sex, love and relationships.
One of the more shocking revelations of the poll however, exposed the fact that even youth support the theory that women can be to blame for their rapes.
Twenty-three percent of survey respondents believe that one in four South African men rape because too many women wear revealing clothes. As much as 40% of the polls also held the belief that schoolgirls contributed to their sexual exploitation by their teachers since this was a two way street.
Teacher, pupil
Only 35% believed that a relationship between teacher and pupil was always an abuse of power.
Tamsen de Beer, the content editor of YoungAfricaLive said South African’s are always bombarded by what Western youth have to say about sex, adding that it was high time the country gained insight onto the thoughts and feelings that motivate African youth to behave in a way that leads to the statistical tallies we have.
Gustav Praekelt, the founder of the organisation, said the fact that YoungAfricaLive has grown to 36 000 users since its inception in December 2009 is proof of the need for such a markets.
"The power of this platform or youth-to-youth interaction is that it is the peers who start to point users in the direction of the right message and stepping in as educators in the absence of parents for instance," added Praekelt.
He said their future plans include the introduction of professionals, who will advise the users who need it. Discussions are also underway for MNT and other networks to make this platform accessible to their users.
A 2008 National Youth Lifestyle Study published by the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention found that 39% of the 12-22 year-olds surveyed reported to ever having sex.
Some 55% of the sexually active respondents then admitted to have had sex before they were 15.
