Abstract
Using an ethnographic approach, the authors explored the awareness among women in southern Africa of the HIV epidemic and the methods they might use to protect themselves from the virus. The research, conducted from 1992 through 1999, focused specifically on heterosexual transmission in 5 sites that were selected to reflect urban and rural experiences, various populations, and economic and political opportunities for women at different historical moments over the course of the HIV epidemic. The authors found that the female condom and other woman-controlled methods are regarded as culturally appropriate among many men and women in southern Africa and are crucial to the future of HIV/AIDS prevention. The data reported in this article demonstrate that cultural acceptability for such methods among women varies along different axes, both over time and among different populations. For this reason, local circumstances need to be taken into account. Given that women have been clearly asking for protective methods they can use, however, political and economic concerns, combined with historically powerful patterns of gender discrimination and neglect of women's sexuality, must be viewed as the main obstacles to the development and distribution of methods women can control.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (93.5 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Abdool Karim Q., Abdool Karim S. S. South Africa: host to a new and emerging HIV epidemic. Sex Transm Infect. 1999 Jun;75(3):139–140. doi: 10.1136/sti.75.3.139. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Farmer P., Lindenbaum S., Good M. J. Women, poverty and AIDS: an introduction. Cult Med Psychiatry. 1993 Dec;17(4):387–397. doi: 10.1007/BF01379306. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gupta G. R., Weiss E. Women's lives and sex: implications for AIDS prevention. Cult Med Psychiatry. 1993 Dec;17(4):399–312. doi: 10.1007/BF01379307. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Stein Z. A. HIV prevention: the need for methods women can use. Am J Public Health. 1990 Apr;80(4):460–462. doi: 10.2105/ajph.80.4.460. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]