Influencing young men to delay sexual initiation requires changing social norms and how young men perceive themselves. It may also mean changing how parents, friends, teachers, and girlfriends define masculinity. Training in interpersonal communication skills can help young men talk honestly with girlfriends about reproductive health issues. Young artists performed original songs with AIDS-prevention messages. Much of the information comes in the form of answers from a sociologist and physician to readers' letters asking for advice.
Young men can be a particularly challenging audience to reach.
For example, young men who have dropped out of school are usually much more likely to be involved in risky sexual behavior than are students. In Botswana, for example, as part of the Tsa Banana Reproductive Health Program, peer educators talked to secondary school students about pregnancy, AIDS, HIV transmission, and condoms. Serving young men. Many reproductive health programs do not serve young men or women because of opposition from religious, political, and other institutions that condemn sexual activity outside of marriage. In some places laws prohibit or limit providing contraceptives and other services to young and unmarried people.