I was completely disgusted when watching the video in class. To see that married women in South Africa are the prime victim of HIV was hard to watch when the reasons are for anything but them being promiscuous or unsafe. This has become very interesting to me because it is actually part of my anthology group project.
Married women aren't allowed to say no to sex for reasons other than menstruation or illness. So, if they can't refuse they try to be safe and use some form of protection against STIs and STDs then they are looked down upon and accused of being unfaithful and cheating on their husband. What make this more disgusting is that most women contract HIV from their husbands. I couldn't believe they would accuse their wives of being unfaithful when they themselves were the ones sleeping with other people.
Women aged 15-24 make up 60% of new HIV cases. Factors affecting this go as far as biological factors (more exposed to infection than men), social norms (emphasizing female chastity and condoning make promiscuity), cultural factors discouraging condom use, gender inequality, violence against women, and economic dependence of women on men.
I hope to learn more about how to fight the disease and how it is becoming such a discriminating disease. Knowledge is the best protection and weapon against infection. The more we know, the more we can help as well. I think the percentages of HIV/AIDS funding (90% in US and 10% in Africa/South America) need to be inverted with the majority going to the countries that don't have public health systems to focus on preventing more people from contracting the disease.
I too am amazed that women who are HIV negative are looked down upon for using protection while having sex with their HIV positive husband. There is a tremendous cultural divide between the U.S. and South Africa, obviously. I do not believe that anyone from America would protest to the use of protection during intercourse when HIV is in the picture.
ReplyDeleteI am very displeased with the statistics of South Africa, its hard to believe that the majority of HIV positive women live in South Africa. I wish there were something we could do to change that. Perhaps someday there will be.
I also believe that the amount of resources spent on AIDS in Africa, or more affected countries then are own, needs to increase because of the number of fatalities that we see in Africa and poorer nations.
ReplyDeleteI too was also appaled at the fact that women were forced into sex and then they were the ones that were looked down upon for contracting the disease from their male partners. This is obviously not fair to the female population in Africa.
But the real question is: will there ever be a cure? We can only hope.
It's apalling that in this day and age that women are still on the short end of equality. As disheartening as hearing about people contracting STI/STD's is, the saddest aspect of all is "innocent" people contracting a lethal disease without a defense or say in the matter. This group pertains to women being infected by their husbands recklessly, children born infected, and those given HIV contaminated blood transfusions.
ReplyDeleteSupported by statistics, testimonies, and medical documentation is the necessity for a calling on a better approach to preventing and treating HIV/AIDS. First off is the ridiculous dispersement of funding whereby those who need it most are those who get the least aid. This defies logic at the most elementary level and needs to change. Secondly, as demonstrated in the movie of Namibia, populations highly affected by this pandemic are calling out for help through education, medicine, and of course funding. Those afflicted acknowledging that HIV is a problem and seeking help is a good first step on their part. Next comes our part in doing what we can to help. As mentioned in the film, don't underestimate the impact of what you have to give, whatever that may be.
Wow I didn't know that women made up 60% of the new cases of HIV. I've always thought it was around 50-50. "Married women in Africa can't say no to sex" it must like a cultural thing that they have in Africa. Saying that you don't want to have sex to your husband is probably disrespectful and it seems to hurt the relationship. I also would like to learn about a cure for the disease.
ReplyDeleteI was also very shocked at the fact that women can't suggest the usage of a condom to their husband because it makes them look unfaithful. It is such a different norm from the US. It is common for women to suggest the use of condoms with out the thought of their faithfulness to you crossing your mind. I also didn't know that only 10% of our funding went to Africa and South Asia. I believe that it should definately increasse since their is such a problem over in those areas.
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