What young Africans think of love

Over the past 10 days, YoungAfricaLive (YAL) users in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa were given the chance to vote daily on a spectrum of polls that covered everything from love to what's going down with sex.

14 Feb 2012

The poll revealed the following results:

Those who doubt the seriousness with which young Africans take relationships and sex will be surprised to know that most respondents agreed that "Sex is always better with someone you love" (76% of over 4000 YAL users).

There's also a hopeless romantic streak in young Africans, with the majority of users admitting you can't stop yourself falling in love. "The heart wants what the heart wants", 62 % of close to 3 500 users acknowledged.

When it comes to tying the knot, a massive 88% of close to 4 000 users said that a marriage needs love to succeed - an acknowledgment of the seriousness with which YAL users take this aspect of their romantic life, even though for many it lies a good few years ahead.

On a more sober note, users showed a considered sense of what's right and wrong in response to the question: "Love is stronger than... a rough hand: True or False?" Only 17% agreed that a man can raise his hand against a woman and still love her, with close to 80% saying either it's never okay for a man to take such action or that this should be termed "bad love".

Young Africans hold little truck with cheaters: at least half of the users said that if their partner cheated they would pack their bags and head for the road - close to 2 000 of around 4 000 votes.

Against a backdrop of Africa's HIV/Aids statistics, 52% of young Africans defined love as always using a condom to protect the one you love. This is as opposed to the 5% who said that love is having sex without a condom "because you trust one another", 21% defining love as "taking an HIV test together", or the 20% who defined it as "coming clean about your sexual past".

79% of the guys who voted said that they show their love by being caring and supportive while 84% of the girls who voted said the same. The feminists amongst us would be reassured to know that very few women voted to show their love by "cleaning up after him", "making sure his dinner is waiting when he comes home" or "having sex with him whenever he wants it".

When asked what's most important in a relationship, an overwhelming 70% of votes opted for the solid foundation of friendship, trust and support - over and above love, good sex or financial security.

Says Gustav Praekelt of the Praekelt Foundation, "It's always fascinating when we do polls on YAL, especially when they are around a strong topic like love and romance. Our polls are not definitive, but we do believe that they play a real role in giving an indication of where our users are headed and what is important to them."