Perhaps a sad state of affairs, a recent study published in the Journal of Youth Studies found that boys in the KZN region were struggling to compete with older males for girlfriends because they weren’t able to provide for the girls as well as an older man with income could. This has only resulted in growing resentment towards older men, kinda like the xenophobic situations where locals felt foreigners were stealing their local women.

Unpacking sex, gender and money issues among black teenagers, the study comprised of forty-four focus groups which included 16- and 17-year-olds from KwaZulu Natal schools. Although the youngsters believe that a life of glamour is elusive, that status can be achieved through relationships with sugar-daddies or teacher-learner interactions.

A teacher buying lunch for a teenage woman in poverty provides the foundation for sexual relations questioning the moral fibre of teachers in schools.

Some of the girls, they just want boyfriends because this one is buying airtime, and this one is buying chocolates.

I think the older men, eh, they took our girlfriends, they convince them because they drive nice cars. The sugar daddy says to the girl: ‘Hey baby let’s go, leave this boy.’ You do nothing, you just go home.

There are teachers who are sugar-daddies to the learners, they buy them lunch.

The teenage boys were unable to compete with older men as teenage women make choices based on economic power. And, although the views of relationships can be based on romance or love, it wasn’t enough. The study went as far as attempting to debunk racial perceptions that black teenage males are sexual predators without feelings who are are promiscuous and driven by sexual desire as the boys “spoke eloquently about love”.

Love is where you feel like you care for someone so much, and you want her to get everything – food everything, even live a proper life.

You know, young love isn’t an easy feat.

[source: timeslive]