More and more young people are requesting Sida Info Service on the Internet. But the listening service warns of the flagrant lack of knowledge about risky sexual practices.
The Internet is gaining momentum. In 10 years of existence, Sida Info Service has diversified listening platforms. In addition to the toll-free number (0 800 840 800), it is now possible to get information by email or Livechat, since 2011.
A decade marked by changes that Sida Info Service (SIS) traced through the analysis of telephone interviews conducted in 2004, 2007, 2011 and 2014 with young people, Livechat exchanges and emails. And the finding is worrying: one in five callers is under 25 years old. And knowledge about sexuality, pregnancy and the risks of transmitting infections is very low.
The feeling of anonymity on the Internet
The year 2014 marks the massive use of Internet media among young people. Minors are three times more numerous on the Livechat than on the hotlines. A release that is good – it opens anonymous access to young people who would not necessarily have requested SIS -, but also less good: the advisers regularly direct Internet users to the more personalized toll-free number.
In 2014, a listener wrote to a 17-year-old young woman, who said that she had had unprotected sex: “We can talk about it in a more precise, calm way, especially for advice. I can give you a free number from a cell phone if you don’t have a landline. I think that an exchange by telephone seems more appropriate to me… and more human. »
The hotline remains the preferred medium for young people worried about their sexual practices. But Sida Info Service notes, in its observatory, that Internet support has the advantage of accentuating the feeling of anonymity. The questions become more precise, tongues loosen. “Does oral sex carry a big risk for a woman? asks, for example, a 17-year-old on the Livechat. This confirms the results of the Health Barometer, according to which 48% of young people use the web to learn about health.
A profound lack of knowledge
The questions are more specific and raise a major concern on the side of Sida Info Service: many young people, particularly minors, have very incomplete knowledge about sexuality and the mode of transmission of sexually transmitted infections. “Young callers come to SIS services with questions revealing a significant lack of basic knowledge about sexuality. They do not know their bodies, which leads to confusion about the risks of pregnancy and contraceptive methods, concludes the service. They do not master the notion of STIs and develop an imagination about the risks of transmission. In particular, the spontaneous creation of a virus has been recurrent for years. “A lack of knowledge which perhaps explains the low use of condoms. Indeed, a third of students would never protect themselves during sexual intercourse.
