"A Slap of Love": A Way of Showing Love and Resolving Conflict Among Young People in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

This article draws on qualitative study to examine Congolese male and female high school students' attitudes toward intimate partner violence. A total of 56 boys and girls aged 16-20 years from two urban and two rural high schools in South Kivu province took part in focus groups, and 40 of these were subsequently interviewed individually. To the majority of male and female participants, when the man or boy beats his wife or girlfriend that means he loves her and he wants her to change. They believed that if a boy does not love her, he may let her go on making mistakes. Some male participants viewed women and girlfriend beating as a way to let her realize her inferiority. However, some female participants disagreed with these assumptions but they concomitantly accepted a "slap of love." There is a strong need to re-educating both males and females to address the problem, and particularly train men to treat women respectfully and non-violently.

'It's not good to eat a candy in a wrapper': male students' perspectives on condom use and concurrent sexual partnerships in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

This paper reports on fieldwork carried out in 2011 with aim to investigate young men's perspectives about condoms use, concurrent sexual partnerships and sex in the context of HIV/AIDS. This study employed a qualitative approach to collect data from 28 boys aged 16-20 from two urban and two rural high schools in South Kivu province. Four focus group discussions and 20 individual interviews were conducted among them. The findings showed that most students identified condoms as unsafe and untrustworthy. Reasons given for the mistrust of condoms were related to the belief that condoms do not give enough protection from Sexually Transmitted Infections, HIV and pregnancies. Most participants believe that condoms have a 'small hole' or are unreliable and are therefore not effective in prevention. They also mentioned that condoms encourage inappropriate sexual activity. They prefer flesh-to-flesh sex rather than protected sex using a condom. However, a few participants acknowledged the importance of condom use. Despite the risk of HIV transmission, boys believe that it is appropriate for them to have concurrent sexual partnerships. They justified the concurrent sexual partnerships as a way of ensuring that they cannot miss a girl to satisfy their sexual desire. Given the boys' failure to use condoms and their strong inclination to concurrent sexual partnerships, there is a need for heath groups and stakeholders within the area to increase awareness about condoms' effectiveness and improve knowledge dissemination on Sexually Transmitted Diseases and how they are prevented.

Virginity Requirement Versus Sexually-Active Young People: What Girls and Boys Think About Virginity in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

This article aims to explore Congolese male and female high school students' cultural attitudes concerning virginity. The study employed a qualitative approach to collect data from 56 boys and girls aged 16-20 years old. Eight focus group discussions and 40 individual interviews were conducted among participants from two urban and two rural high schools in South Kivu province. Findings indicate that men are disappointed when they marry non-virgin girls. In fact, most male and female participants perceived girls who were virgins as trustworthy individuals. They believe that the girl's virginity loss brings shame to her family. However, some female participants clearly dissociate from societal views or norms about virginity, and remark that virginity itself is not the key to a successful household nor a guarantee for remaining faithful after marriage. Such traditional norms-in the context of high levels of rape-place enormous pressure on young women and cause them to lie about virginity because they fear losing their fiancés. They indicated that they would lie about it regardless of any consequences they may encounter. In fact, some traditional beliefs need to be challenged and modified.

Forced sex, rape and sexual exploitation: attitudes and experiences of high school students in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

This paper reports on fieldwork carried out in 2011 with the aim of investigating the attitudes and reported behaviour of Congolese high school students concerning sexual relationships. A total of 56 boys and girls aged 16-20 from two urban and two rural high schools in South Kivu Province took part in focus groups, and 40 of these were subsequently interviewed individually. The majority of boys felt that they were entitled to sex from their girlfriends and that if persuasion was unsuccessful, the use of force was legitimate; this, in their minds, did not constitute rape. Girls, on the other hand, were clear that such forced sex was rape. However it may be understood, rape was perceived as having increased in recent years and was explained by weak legal systems, pornography and provocative dressing by girls. Boys were angry at the competition from older, often married, men who were able to provide monetary and other incentives to the girls.