Endangered Youth? Youth, gender and sexualities in urban Botswana

Age is now recognised as a significant social cleavage in research on youth in the South. Using participatory urban appraisal methodologies, this article explores constructions of sexualities among urban youth in Botswana, a country that is currently experiencing an HIV/AIDS epidemic and high levels of teenage pregnancy. We argue that not only are young people sophisticated sexual beings, but that there is a need to adopt more holistic approaches to examining sexualities among them so as to appreciate that constructions of sexualities are multi-faceted, highly diverse and heavily gendered. This appreciation must then be integrated into a multi-sectoral policy approach that moves beyond information provision towards one that addresses changes in gender, cultural and sexual identities.