Gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health among low-income youth in three Brazilian cities

Abstract

In this article, we investigate how gender-based violence (GBV) affects the sexual and reproductive health of impoverished adolescents and young adults. We analyse data from a 2011 survey of 450 young women and 300 young men aged 15–29, living in poor neighbourhoods of three middle-sized cities in Minas Gerais, Brazil. In this survey we used a closed-ended questionnaire to collect data from 150 women and 100 men in each city. Our main goal was to explore the relationship between GBV and young women’s autonomy in relation to their sexuality, using indicators appropriate to Brazil. Our results showed a decreased prevalence of condom use at first intercourse and an increased prevalence of teenage pregnancies among young women who were in a relationship with a controlling and violent partner. Lower condom use was observed mostly among young men who acknowledged being violent and controlling towards a partner and they also were more likely to have made a partner pregnant as teenagers themselves. We conclude that some variables utilized here as indicators of control and violence from a partner and of young women’s autonomy can help us to understand how GBV inside relationships affects the reproductive and sexual health of young men and women, and how empowering them can reduce their susceptibility to unwanted pregnancies and HIV and other STI infections.