Giving instincts free rein: Sexuality for male adolescents with experience of life on the street, Medellin

Abstract

Objective: To understand the meanings that adolescents give to sexuality. Methodology: A qualitative study with an ethnographic approach. The study was conducted with 17 adolescent males, with an age range between 12 and 18 years, who have experience of life on the street, in Medellin, Colombia. The information was collected through interviews and field diaries. In the analysis, information was codified and categorized. Results: Sexuality for adolescents with experience of life on the street means having sexual relations; these take place due to arousal when, according to them, their hormones increase, or for survival, to meet the needs of everyday life. Conclusions: For street adolescents, sexual exchange with people of the same or opposite sex means sexuality; sexual relations are commonplace for them, they are mediated by taste, physiological need, love, consumption of psychoactive substances or for survival.