How we were grown: cultural aspects of high-risk sexual behaviour in Jamaica

ABSTRACT

Paper states that based on a collection of over twenty ethnographic interviews of informants selected from a national sample of Jamaicans, "How we were grown" examines three issues, 1) sexual socialisation and value formation; 2) the establishment and maintenance of multiple relations; and (3) the use and non-use of the condom. Focuses on the role of culture in shaping and informing sexual conduct. Argues that Jamaicans are socialised to adopt a guilt-free, pleasure-oriented attitude to sex; that whereas male multiple relationships arise from cultural perceptions of gender, female multiple relationships are prompted by deterioration in the quality of primary unions. Shows how cultural norms of aesthetics and feelings of trust determine Jamaicans' approach to sexual intercourse, and considers the implications for policy of a clash between embedded cultural values and pragmatism.