Exchange and Condom Use in Informal Sexual Relationships in Urban Kenya

This article investigates whether a market for unsafe sexual activity exists among nonmarital, noncommercial sexual relationships in a high HIV/AIDS environment. The exchange of money for sex without a condom is well known within commercial sexual partnerships, but it is unclear from the previous ev...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Economic development and cultural change 2006-01, Vol.54 (2), p.319-348
Main Author: Luke, Nancy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Adolescents
Age
Age groups
AIDS
Collaboration
Commodities
Condoms
Contraception
Economic relations
Endowment
Exchange
Exchange (Economics)
Females
Gift
Girls
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
Human sexual behavior
Interpersonal relations
Kenya
Male-female relationships
Marital status
Mating behavior
Men
Nonmarital relationships
Premarital intercourse
Probability
Prostitution
Regression analysis
Sex industry
Sexual Behavior
Sexual behaviour
Sexual Intercourse
Sexual relationships
Studies
Transfers
Wealth
Women
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Summary:This article investigates whether a market for unsafe sexual activity exists among nonmarital, noncommercial sexual relationships in a high HIV/AIDS environment. The exchange of money for sex without a condom is well known within commercial sexual partnerships, but it is unclear from the previous evidence whether markets can emerge among noncommercial relationships as well. I use data on nonmarital sexual partnerships and transfers from Kisumu, Kenya, to investigate this question. I define and measure transfers as material items given by a male to his female sexual partner, including money and nonmonetary items, such as gifts, meals, and rent. I find a strong negative relationship between the level of transfers and condom use after controlling for male fixed effects and other important female and partnership characteristics. I also find that nonmonetary transfers have the same relationship with condom use as monetary transfers. Furthermore, I test the assumption that adolescent girls are particularly disadvantaged within informal partnerships, where men can offer remarkably small amounts of money or gifts in exchange for sex without a condom. Contrary to this popular assumption, the results reveal that the trade‐off between transfers and condom use does not differ between partnerships involving adolescent girls and adult females.
ISSN:0013-0079
1539-2988
DOI:10.1086/497011