If contraception was used, it was usually a condom. Age at initiation varied, as did the location. It was usually spontaneous, sex usually occurred without contraception, and a typical reaction was fear of being discovered. While this typology is not intended for generalization, it highlights major differences in attitudes and behaviour of youth that are evident to a degree in all settings. These double standards are particularly evident in case studies in Asia, but are seen in Latin America as well.
Exceptions do emerge.
Males are perceived to need sexual experience and several partners while women are not, as shown by studies among adolescents attending reproductive health services in two hospitals in Argentina, among adolescent schoolgirls and factory workers in Thailand, and among university students in the Philippines. Young women in Argentina consider the roles of men preferable to their own because men have greater freedom and independence. Several studies indicate that males and females engage in sexual relations with very different motives. The leading reasons expressed by females for having sex are love and the desire to strengthen a committed relationship. Fears of losing their partner, incurring his anger, or jeopardizing the relationship inhibit young females from choosing the timing of sexual activity or negotiating contraceptive use.