MEDIA CENTER
PC India News Release

Love and Sex Among Adolescents

NEW DELHI, INDIA  (9 October 2006) — When Rani* was in standard 12, a classmate in her school in Pune proposed to her for "loveship." In the distinct vocabulary young people employ, it clearly meant an offer going beyond romantic friendship to a partnership that could include sexual relations.

Contrary to perceptions, intimate interactions between unmarried young women and men are not rare in either rural or urban areas. The Population Council carried out the first community-based study in India to explore this sensitive subject. The in-depth survey of boys and girls aged 15–24 in Pune district of Maharashtra concludes that in all, about one in five young men and a little fewer than one in 20 young women have premarital sex. Urban youngsters are more sexually active than those in rural areas. The study is being presented for the first time at a two-day conference in Delhi, 12–13 October, entitled  Programming for Young People: New Evidence on Young People’s Situation and Needs.

The study breaks the myth of sex taking place largely within marriage in conservative Indian society. “It argues for India’s reproductive health programs to include unmarried young people and to recognize their need, too, for information and services,” says Shireen Jejeebhoy, senior program associate at the Population Council, who was directly associated with the survey. Counseling and contraceptive services, so far made available largely to married young couples, must be offered in a nonjudgmental and confidential manner to other young people, too.

As the study shows, there is an urgent need for these services as the time between youth reporting a romantic partner to first sex is often just a month. Sahil* (age 17) says, “Over one month, I proposed to her 45 times. . . . After a month, when I met her alone and proposed, she said yes.” Over 25 percent of young men engage in sexual relations within the first month of partnership, while 2–12 percent of young women become sexually active within a month. Despite this, contraceptive use is far from universal. Just 25 percent of young men regularly use condoms with romantic partners, while for young women premarital use of any contraceptive method was rarer. The gender difference is marked even in giving consent to a sexual relationship. While 9 percent of young women are "forced" and 30 percent "persuaded" to have sex the first time, just 3 percent of men on average admitted to "forcing" their romantic partners to engage in sexual relations with them, and 14 percent of urban young men claimed they had "persuaded" their partners.

To understand the dimension as well as diversity of sexual experiences, the 2004–2005 Population Council study selected an urban slum in Pune city and a rural site covering 90 villages in Pune district. Both sites have a population of approximately 100,000 each. The district is economically developed, and young people have access to education, employment, and modern lifestyles. HIV prevalence also is high. The average age of those participating in the study was 19. Researchers interviewed 2,150 unmarried women and 1,350 married women from both rural and urban areas, and 950 unmarried and married men. Those who were married were asked about their premarital experiences.

The study found that despite strict parental supervision and norms discouraging inter-sex friendships among the unmarried, partnerships are formed that lead to sexual relations by 15–30 percent of young men and about 10 percent of young women. Most of these are clandestine in terms of being outside the knowledge of the family. Partners generally are from the same neighborhood. Opportunities to meet are few, yet proposals are made in several ways, some of which are indirect, such as through letters and intermediaries like friends or younger children. Says 18-year-old Pushpa*, who lives in a village, of how a boy approached her, “He gave me a letter. . . . I did not reply. After a month on my birthday he sent me a greeting card. Then I said yes. I also wrote a letter to him.” Another youngster, Sahil*, describes how girls and boys meet and exchange proposals: “She starts giving ‘line’ . . . then they smile, talk. Then he goes up directly and proposes loveship.”

With opportunities clearly existing for premarital partnerships to progress from courtship to physical intimacy, it is critical that policies and programs for youth work toward equipping them with safe choices. Sexuality education must become universal and start from an early age, addressing also the gender double standards and power imbalances visible in the young. It must ensure that the intimacy is wanted, informed, and safe.

* Names have been changed to protect the identities of those interviewed.