Risk and sex: Ego-centricity and sexual behaviour in young adults

Abstract

Beck (1992) suggests that heterosexual relationships have changed to the extent that intimacies can be exchanged almost like handshakes. If this notion extends to sexual behaviour it could present a major threat to sexual health. This study targeted the arena of unprotected sex against a backdrop of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. A matched sample of 25 men and 25 women were interviewed and opinions about sexual encounters and unprotected sex were explored. The data suggest that individuals in both groups participated in unprotected sex even though they had a knowledge of the risks they were taking. Their actions appear to be sanitised because they felt that they knew or could trust their partners. This suggests an ego-centric view of their culture in that the respondents project their own rules or wishes upon society rather than conforming to the accepted norm (that is refraining from behaviour that could expose them to infection). The time scale for knowing and trusting another was generally short, suggesting that intimacies are, indeed, becoming casual. This is an area that requires further investigation. There may be an investment in social capital: a set of informal values or norms that are shared amongst members of a group (Fukuyama, 1997). It is argued that ego-centricity facilitates pseudo-social capital that can compromise general health.

Keywords:

• Sexual
• Behaviour
• Sexually
• Transmitted
• Disease
• Risk
• Contraception