Targeting “Risky” Gender Ideologies: Constructing a Community-Driven, Theory-Based HIV Prevention Intervention for Youth

Since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, school-based HIV prevention education targeting youth has taken many forms. Although there has been some success, educators continue to be challenged by situations in which youth are knowledgeable about HIV but continue to engage in risky sexual behavior. In this article, the authors propose that the underlying or implicit theories about teenagers’ sexual risk behavior that guide most of these prevention activities are not accurate descriptions or valid explanations of sexual risk in this population. The article is divided into three major sections. First, the authors articulate the theories underlying HIV prevention activities that are typically found in standard school-based prevention curricula, discussing both their limitations and strengths. Second, they discuss their increased awareness of the role of gender ideologies and sexual scripts in the sexual lives of youth. Finally, the authors describe their current HIV prevention activity (“The Game”) as it emerges and is shaped by their increasing understanding of the critical role of gender-based ideolo gies and sexual scripts in young people’s sexual risk behavior.