‘They say “I did it”, but they don’t say “I got an STI from it”’: Exploring the experiences of youth with a migration background with sexual health in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

Youth with a migration background are underserved by sexual healthcare. Insight in their experiences is essential to develop tailored services and counter disparities. We explored how youth with a migration background access sexual health information, experience public sexual healthcare, and navigate sexual health in their particular sociocultural contexts. We carried out nine semi-structured interviews and one group interview with twelve young people (18–24) with a migration background in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Respondents were heterosexually oriented and of various sociocultural backgrounds. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. Three themes emerged: ‘Access to sexual health information’, ‘Access to primary sexual health care’, and ‘Strategies for sexual self-care’. Youth sought out information online or from peers, however, conversations mostly focussed on pleasure while risk was often not discussed. Youth valued anonymity when accessing sexual healthcare, and used several strategies, such as staying silent or adhering to values such as ‘self-respect’, to navigate sexual health within their everyday gendered environments. While these strategies manifested as sources of empowerment, they also resulted in potential vulnerabilities. To counter sexual health disparities among youth with a migration background, public sexual health services should provide culturally safe care and foster participatory collaborations with local stakeholders.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual health
• youth with a migration background
• sexual agency
• public health services
• access to care

Acknowledgments

We thank the young people who shared their stories with us. Special thanks to Nazaré Barclay Reinders and Ewout van Luijk for critically reading the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In the Netherlands, sexuality education takes place in mixed gender classrooms.

2 These Dutch terms refer to people with cultural roots within the Netherlands (autochtoon) and outside the Netherlands (allochtoon); however, in public and political discourse they have been racialized to mean white and non-white. Although the terms are now considered outdated, ‘allochtoon’ is still frequently used, also by people with a migrant background to refer to themselves in relation to the ‘white other’. In some cases the word has been reclaimed by young people of colour.

3 Amstelveen and Hoofddorp are towns near Amsterdam.

4 We use the term vulnerability not as an inherent trait of an individual, but as a circumstance: an increased exposure to risk in a risk environment (4).