Study rationale and objectives
If nothing else, the AIDS epidemic has served to highlight young people's vulnerability to sexually-transmitted disease. Not only are they characterized by generally low levels of awareness regarding prevention strategies, but many engage in practices which place them at high risk of contracting HIV. In the face of this danger, the state's principal response has been to promote condom use through the school system and media. However, its efforts in this regard have been effectively stymied by the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, a potent force in Costa Rica, and one which deemed the condom campaign to be immoral.
Given this context, the purpose of the present work is twofold. (1) to analyse the sexual cultures of young people and their impact upon sexual practice (particularly as this relates to the risk of HIV infection), and (2) to propose means of overcoming the impasse between rational-scientific prevention strategies and religious values.
During the course of this study, 'sexual culture' is used to refer to all sex-related discourses (messages) to which young people are exposed, their inherent contradictions, the forms of resistance they engender, and their role in the compartmentalization of feelings and thoughts. Moreover, in order to highlight the discrepancies and contradictions inherent within these sexual cultures, we will carry out analyses in two communities that stand in sharp contrast to one another in terms of their socio-economic characteristics: the first being marginal in orientation ('Villa del Mar'), the second overwhelmingly middle class ('Villa del Sol')1.
Moreover, it should be noted that our aim is merely to examine sexual discourses, discursive practices and their relation to sexual culture, and not to undertake a comprehensive study of the myriad factors that may be related to sexual culture in one way or another. These we will only address indirectly, by exploring their role in changing sexual practices and discourses over time.
Structure of the study
This work is divided into 13 chapters, with the first four being primarily introductory in nature. The first chapter summarizes the major findings, as well as outlining the study's rationale and organization. This in turn is followed by a contexualization of the research, consisting of a description of the participating communities, along with a discussion of sex education in Costa Rica and young people's sexual practices and awareness of HIV/AIDS. In the third chapter, we turn to questions of methodology, identifying specific objectives, providing detailed information on the study sample, research methods, principles underlying the preparation of the interview guide and characteristics of the field staff hired to carry out the study. Meanwhile, chapter four sets out the social constructionist framework that underpins our understanding of young people's sexual cultures. Moreover, this chapter also includes a discussion of the characteristics of discourses, their place in sexual culture and their impact on prevention. Particular stress is placed upon their origins, the means by which they are imposed, their contradictions, the forms of resistance they generate and the effects which they produce.
In chapter five, we explore the bases of hegemonic sexual discourses -religious, gender-based and scientific -as they are internalized by the participants themselves. This in turn provides the necessary grounding for our discussion in chapters six, seven, and eight of the ways in which class and gender impact upon their assimilation by young people. Then, in chapter nine, we examine the various actors and coercive mechanisms at work in imposing and reinforcing the messages inherent within these discourses, while chapter ten encompasses an examination of their underlying contradictions, together with the gender-and class-specific coping strategies devised by young people to deal with them. Flowing from this discussion, chapters 11 and 12 examine the patterns of formal and informal resistance engaged in by young people in the face of prevailing sexual discourses. Finally, in chapter 13, we undertake an analysis of the range of obstacles placed in the way of effective prevention by sexual culture, as a basis upon which to articulate a more effective, more appropriate prevention model.
Given the continuing impasse between state agencies seeking to promote condom use among young people as a bulwark against the spread of HIV/AIDS, and a church hierarchy adamant in its refusal to sanction any such prevention campaign, the Latin-American Institute for Health Prevention and Education (ILPES) initiated a study in 1994 entitled 'Sexual Culture of Costa Rica's Youth and its Impact on HIV Infection' Funded as part of a larger multi-site project on youth by the Social and Behavioral Studies and Support Unit of the World Health Organization's Global Program on AIDS, its underlying purpose was to explore the sexual cultures of Costa Rica's youth and to propose alternative models for sex education.
Methodology
Adopting a comparative approach, we sought initially to identify two communities -'Villa del Mar' and 'Villa del Sol' -which differed widely in the socio-economic background of their inhabitants, the quality of their social and physical infrastructure, their economic base and, last but not least, the sexual lives of their youth. Having decided upon two appropriate candidates, the next step entailed identifying a study sample of young people (aged 12 to 19) of both sexes who were long-time residents of their community. A series of quotas were used to generate the sample, with community membership, sex, age, first sexual experience and onset of menstruation (for girls) being the principal criteria employed in this regard. In total, 58 individuals were selected to participate in an in-depth interview, with eight focus groups conducted with 24 additional young people as a way of corroborating the individual responses. Moreover, we also carried out a number of interviews with community leaders, as well as retaining the services of two ethnographers (a man and a woman), who collected information on the lifestyles and everyday realities of young people in both communities.
Conceptual framework
At a theoretical level, the research is informed by the tenets of social constructionism. That is to say, we assume that sexual culture arises from discourses and discursive practices, through which young people come to define themselves and their sexuality. Moreover, situated discursive practices also influence the forms of resistance adopted by young people, which may involve, for example, the articulation of alternative, non-hegemonic discourses. However, by the same token it is clear that there is more to sexual culture than the discursive. To cite but one example, one might argue that the relative wealth or poverty of each community also plays an important role in shaping the development of such cultures.
In present-day Costa Rica, one may identify at least six major sexual discourses. The first three are hegemonic, and these we have labeled 'religious', 'gender-based' and 'rational-scientific'. Meanwhile, the latter three are resistance discourses, and these may be termed 'erotic', 'romantic' and 'feminist'. As these discourses are not the exclusive domain of any single group though admittedly some derive greater benefit from them than do others -contradictions and resistance are inevitable. Moreover, young people do not assimilate them mechanically, but rather transform them in ways that are reflective of their class and gender positioning. In this way, the sexual cultures of Costa Rican youth are subject to a constant process of (re)negotiation, with class and gender being but two of the variables at work in influencing the particular thrust of their evolution.
Hegemonic discourses
In order to lend some support to this claim, let us consider each of the dominant sexual discourses in turn. Reference has already been made to the power of the Roman Catholic church in Costa Rica, and certainly there can be little question that its hostility to all forms of non-reproductive and extra-marital sex informs much of the population's thinking on questions of sexuality. However, by the same token it is clear that young people do not internalize religious discourses on sex without question. In the first instance, the degree of acceptance varies along lines of class, with Villa del Sol youth in particular showing themselves willing to question and criticize the tenets of the Church on matters such as sex before marriage. In Villa del Mar, by contrast, there is little questioning of religious doctrine. Since the community itself is in a state of crisis, and hence unable to respond effectively to young people's needs and expectations, the latter expect salvation to come from God instead.
Not surprisingly, gender is another significant factor in conditioning young people's acceptance of religious discourses. Female participants, for example, tend to re-interpret and modify them according to the inter-personal relationships in which they are enmeshed. Thus, if someone close to them is revealed to be gay, they will simply cease to acknowledge the validity of the Church's condemnation of homosexuality. Along somewhat different lines, young men tend to use 'logic' as the lens through which they view religious teachings. That is to say, they will accept those rules which make sense to them, and reject those which don't. In this way, if they believe there is no scientific basis for the Church's interdiction against masturbation, they will ignore the latter. However, if they accept the view that masturbation poses a risk to their health, they will simply take the Church's views on the matter as a given.
Turning to dominant discourses around gender, there can be little doubt that the 'traditional' understanding of men and women's roles remains alive and well, despite attempts by young people to modify it in ways that are reflective of their own social realities. Thus, one might argue that while male participants continue to feel superior to their female counterparts, they also believe that they must be compassionate and more flexible with their partners. They are willing to accept the view that women can work, play and study to the same degree that they can. Nevertheless, there are at least three areas that remain forbidden territory: sexual initiation, sexual practice and use of language. That is to say, young men expect women to remain feminine, never to initiate a sexual relation or utter a 'vulgar' word. As for young women, they clearly share many of the same essentialist theories as to why they should be seen as the 'weaker' sex. However, their traditional understanding has been altered somewhat by what one might call a 'gender-specialization discourse'. What does this mean? In short, even as women accept the view that their femininity and child-rearing skills (inter alia) are rooted in biology, they do not feel that they should be considered inferior to men as a result.
Of course, gender discourses are also influenced by class. Members of poor communities, for example, tend to associate gender far more closely with the body and physical activities, with differences between men and women being rooted in relative strength and physical power. As one might imagine, adherence to this model demands that women be housewives and caregivers, while men are expected to provide for their families and protect them from danger. Love between men and women is expressed through acts of mutual physical care. In Villa del Sol, by contrast, gender discourses are focused less on physical strength and more on mental processes. Thus, rather than equating male and female with such dualisms as activity/passivity or strength/weakness, there is a tendency to view the sexes instead through the lens of opposing yet complementary 'psychologies'. Within this frame of reference, women are women not so much because of a particular set of physical attributes, but rather because they are different from men on a mental level. Quite simply, their minds have been inscribed with a distinctly female attitude and personality, just as men have been 'programmed' to be responsible for and protective of women. Among the implications of this gender model is the belief that women and men's mental development (whether through social or physiological processes) produces minds that are in themselves incomplete, and hence in need of the complementarity afforded by someone of the opposite sex.
Not surprisingly, internalization of rational-scientific discourses is also fragmented along lines of gender and class. In Villa del Sol for example, there is a widespread tendency among young people to draw upon the language of psychology and psychoanalysis when defining themselves and those they know: people are homosexual because of their possessive mothers and sex is an art to be learned from sexologists. This is not the case in Villa del Mar. Science and technology enter less into the everyday lives of young people there, who tend to see force as the fundamental determinant of their community's development (or lack thereof). Needless to say, this view is not surprising when one considers the degree to which Villa del Mar's economy has been undermined by the restructuring of the commercial fishery in the area. As a way of coping with the hardships this has caused, young people turn increasingly to essentialism: men are men because of their penises; it does not matter that they are unable to find work and provide for their families. Similarly, women are women because they give birth to babies, with large families proving to the community they are both fertile and productive.
Internalization, resistance and counter-hegemonic discourse
Having briefly discussed the three dominant sexual discourses in the context of Villa del Mar and Villa del Sol, one must now ask oneself how they come to be internalized by young people. As one might imagine, the most important form of 'teaching' is through repetition, with the tenets of orthodox discourses repeated over and over again to the youth of each community, reinforced all the while by professional guardians of the orthodoxy, whose function is both to proselytize and ensure compliance. Moreover, young people who do transgress the limits of the discourse face a battery of punishments, including ostracism, enclosure, exile, stigmatization, violence and abandonment. Thus, most quickly learn (and internalize) the art of self-discipline, through self-censorship and invocation of the 'internal watchdog'.
However, even as the oppressive weight of hegemonic discourses is brought to bear upon young people, contradictions among and within the latter serve to blunt their impact. That is to say, each seeks to impose its own 'rules of the game', with individuals forced to choose among varying norms and practices. In turn, these contradictions break up logic of all of the discourses, awakening scepticism and disbelief among young people, and inducing them to turn to alternative discursive practices. Three alternatives stand out as particularly significant in this regard, and we have labeled these discourses 'erotic', 'romantic' and 'feminist' respectively. Significantly, even though the latter advocate principles which differ and contradict with one another, the sexual models they are grounded in are symmetrical rather than hierarchical in orientation. Moreover, it should be noted that, despite being open to manipulation by hegemonic forces (ie. the Church, state agencies), the origins of these alternative discourses lie in the grassroots, and hence largely outside of the aegis of state or Church power.
Contradictions between dominant and alternative discourses, as well as within each discourse itself, are conditioned by class and gender. Thus, in Villa del Mar, where young people endeavour to resolve their problems with the tools at their disposal (namely religion and their bodies), religious, erotic and romantic discourses are predominant. Meanwhile, in middle-class Villa del Sol, the power of religion and magic is weakened, with youth drawing far more heavily upon the discourses of feminism and science.
As for the relevance of gender, it is clear that young women are far more sensitive to the contradictions and injustice of institutionalized sexism than are men, who benefit personally and collectively from its operation. However, women do not all respond in similar fashion to such sexism: while those with more resources at their disposal have for the most part internalized the tenets of liberal feminism, poorer women tend to use their bodies to fight sexual oppression, withholding their affection or walking away from abusive relationships.
Sexual discourses and HIV infection
However, as important as the findings outlined above may be, one question remains largely unanswered: how do the sexual cultures of Costa Rican youth contribute to the spread HIV/AIDS within this population? We address this issue in detail in the paragraphs that follow.
Censorship
As has been touched upon above, there are already several sexual discourses in Costa Rica competing for young people's souls and minds. By failing to teach sex education in the country's secondary schools, not only do adolescents have one less tool with which to make sense of their sexuality, but they are effectively prevented from questioning and analyzing the contradictions facing them. Moreover, by divorcing science from sexuality, information on effective means of preventing HIV infection or unwanted pregnancies loses much of its authority, and youth are forced to seek out other sources of information, such as that derived from the prejudices of organized religions.
Internal watchdog
The exercise of self-discipline (the 'internal watchdog') is another means of silencing contradictions and resistance, with young people taught to police their own behaviour, thereby diminishing the need for coercive force. As one imagine, self-regulation of this sort has a negative impact upon adolescents' sexuality, causing them to forget or deny particular sexual experiences. However, if individuals are to develop to their full capacity, they need to be able to learn from past actions and mistakes.
Magical-religious thought
In many cases, the proponents of hegemonic discourses attempt to erase contradictions by demanding that individuals engage in autos da fé, in other words that they accept discursive premises on the basis of faith alone. In effect, these moves invoke supernatural explanations for natural events, 'resolving' contradictions and tensions by placing them outside of the human realm and in that of magic-religious thought. However, this serves to discourage logical thinking at precisely those times when young people need it most, for example when they are about to engage in an activity that places them at high risk of HIV infection.
Compartmentalization
Moreover, young people also attempt to address conflicts and discrepancies in sexual discourses through a process of compartmentalization. What does this mean? Quite simply, rather than rejecting contradictory behaviour and values out of hand, they are placed in separate mental categories, where they co-exist in segregation from one another. In this way, behaviour becomes dependent upon the company or situation in which one finds oneself, with individuals losing awareness of the contradictory nature of their actions. Of course, one of the dangers of this response is that it causes young people to undergo radical transformations and mood changes merely by virtue of moving from one locale or situation to another.
Escapism and unrealistic mechanisms for solutions
Escapism is another means by which young people attempt to deal with the proliferation of conflicting discourses. Substance use, music and dance are all examples of escapist activities. However, not only do they risk becoming addictive, but many are co-factors in HIV infections as well.
Conclusions
If AIDS prevention programmes are to be effective, adequate account must be taken both of differences in sexual culture, and the role of gender and class in producing such differences. Inasmuch as each sub-population responds in a distinct manner to particular events and conditions, it is unrealistic to expect a universal prevention campaign to be effective. Instead, each community should have its own prevention programme, with an explicit attempt made to represent majorities and minorities, conformists and dissidents.
Although young people and community leaders are aware of the existence of contradictory ideas about sexuality, they are wrong to assume that these are restricted to the depictions of the mass media on the one hand, and the moral messages of the Roman Catholic Church on the other. Since it is a common feature of all discourses to seek to hide their socio-cultural roots through recourse to essentialism, they are not constructions that lend themselves to ready analysis and questioning. However, when young people are shown that there are different discourses each with its own 'rules of the game', and that analytical thinking affords them the opportunity to choose alternatives wisely, discourses lose much of their power to command unquestioning loyalty and acceptance.
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1 The names of the communities were changed to protect the identity of project participants.