| Abstract: | This study is part of a broader investigation that explored the sexual experiences, sexual
conduct and safer- unsafe sex practices of Ethiopian male and female undergraduate students
in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic conducted using a mixed methodology: qualitative
and quantitative methods. Explored in this paper are college students’ narrated sexual
engagements and their perceptions to their sexual relations and experiences. The bulk of the
data for the current study was generated from focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted with
20 college students of a diverse profile (10 female and 10 male students). The data generated
from the FGD were also supplemented by ethnographic observations, field notes and
documentary information. Part of the data was also gathered from a 43-item survey
questionnaire administered among randomly chosen undergraduate students (N = 575) in
Addis Ababa University. Data collected through the survey questionnaire revealed that 40%
of the students were sexually active. Empirical materials garnered largely from the FGDs
revealed that Ethiopian undergraduate students were sexually engaged dominantly with one
another and less dominantly with non-college people. Students’ sexual engagement with
people outside included female students’ sexual relations with “sugar daddies” and male
students’ sexual experience with high school students, and less commonly with commercial
sex workers. Despite critiquing each other’s motives, female and male students had generally
positive perceptions towards the sexual relations existing amongst themselves. They were,
however, critical of relations female students had with “sugar daddies”, and sexual affairs
between male students and commercial sex workers. For a richer understanding of college
students’ sexual engagements, the study called for additional investigations among students
studying in regional universities and colleges situated in small towns as well as in private
higher institutes that might have different dynamics. |
