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The expanding AIDS epidemic in Mozambique is fuelled principally by heterosexual transmission, with young people identified as a key group for prevention efforts. However, little is known about the sexual behaviour of young people in Mozambique and the protective practices they adopt. This paper seeks to identify the contexts and rules governing sexual risk-taking among young people in Maputo. In doing so, the paper affirms the importance of context in understanding risk practices, but highlights the fluidity of practice as an important limitation for the use of contextual analysis in prevention interventions. By focusing on one innovation, the saca cena one-night stand, this paper shows how a subgroup of young people in Maputo has redefined a “risky” sexual practice to include exclusive condom use. As a risk context, the saca cena dictates a set of implicit rules emphasizing anonymity, discretion, verbal and non-verbal cues, and for a set of select innovators, condom use. The saca cena challenges the hegemonic gender roles found among many young people in Maputo of male dominance through sexual conquest and female acquiescence. Instead, the practice allows young people to be both adventurous and responsible. The discourse demonstrates how sexual identities have been redefined to combine risk reduction with sexual experimentation and the satiation of desire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Mozambique is facing a severe HIV epidemic. Evidence suggests that male sexual behaviour is one of the driving forces behind the epidemic. Yet, there is limited understanding of how notions of masculinity influence such behaviour in the context of HIV. Using data collected through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with sexually active men and women, this paper investigates how notions of masculinity influence the risk of HIV infection among men. The study findings suggest that traditional norms of masculinity, the man as the main provider and figure of authority, continue to exert a strong influence on male attitudes and behaviour. Alternative approaches are urgently needed in HIV programming that take into consideration notions of masculinity in order to reduce risky sexual behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses two female sexual practices in Tete Province, Mozambique: (1) the practice of elongating the labia minora and (2) what is sometimes called 'dry sex' involving the insertion of natural and/or synthetic products into the vagina or the ingestion of these products orally. These practices are fundamental to the construction of female identity, eroticism and the experience of pleasure. Notions such as 'closed/open', 'dry/damp', 'hot/cold', 'heavy/light', 'life/death', 'wealth/poverty' and 'sweet/not sweet' are central to local understandings of sexual practices and reproduction. These notions may affect the women's sexual health because they influence preferences for sex without a condom. These practices may also be associated with the alteration of the vaginal flora and vaginal lesions that may make women more vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]