Unlike in the past years, when little was known about sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, people worldwide are now aware of the giant killer HIV. With this knowledge, various government organizations, NGOs, religious groups, schools and colleges, and individuals have been on the frontline of sensitization and providing the necessary education to the public concerning the disease. However, this may not be the case in some low- and middle-income countries. Most people in these countries still perceive HIV as a form of a course and the many myths and misconceptions revolving around the disease. Coming from one of the countries where people still stick to their cultural beliefs, Sandra, a twenty-seven years old woman, working with an NGO to educate people on the disease, has faced many challenges in her work. Her work alone has brought many issues between the members of her community and herself. The people believed that women should not have an opportunity to work and handle money (de Souza, R., 2010) as she does but to be a reproduction tool who’s supposed to give birth and raise her kids. Sandra’s story points out the relationship and the controversial beliefs around sexuality, gender, and health.
Having been brought up in a family and a community where the female gender was viewed as a source of wealth when married off, Sandra’s parents married her off at the young age of fifteen to a neighboring village against her will. Her dream was to pursue education just like the boys and gain herself a better life in the future. Three years into marriage, her husband got ill and was in a coma for a while. After a series of medical tests, the doctor discovered that he had HIV and could not have much time to live since the virus had already severely damaged his body. This became the genesis of Sandra’s problems since her husband’s family blamed her for being the one who brought the infection to their son.
Her father-in-law even went ahead to beat her. After her husband’s funeral, she had to return to her parent’s home since everyone demanded that she leave their community before she could kill some more other men. Society believed that women are always the course of all sexually transmitted infections and that the virus could only reside in a woman’s body (de Souza, R., 2010). Sandra wanted to live, so she went for the HIV test and tested positive for the virus, which was not a surprise. After all the stigma and every other pain she had to go through right after the death of her husband, she decided to join the non-governmental organization where she currently works. Joining the organization was not the end to all her problems; instead, the community and her family criticized her for handling condoms, which were considered immoral according to their cultural beliefs.
Sandra developed a series of unending health problems ranging from fever, diarrhea, skin rashes, and other chronic illnesses. Her immune system had begun to grow weak, leaving her vulnerable to all kinds of infections. Knowing she needed to live, she started doing physical exercises and workouts, eating healthy, and taking her medications according to the doctor’s prescription. She sometimes felt like giving up, but she kept going despite the discrimination and depression resulting from the isolation, in addition to her health problems. All she underwent was the critical reason she joined the NGO and became an ambassador of gender, sexuality, and global health.
The first few years of her work were not that easy. Nobody wanted to get close to her, including her family members. They referred to her as evil since she was an HIV-positive female who survived on the ARVs and handled immoral items such as condoms. You can bet how difficult it was for her to convince even a single person of the importance of using condoms during intercourse. In her story, she stated that living with the virus on her body and with all the stigma was not as stressful and stigmatizing as being such a young widow (de Souza, R., 2010). She also explained how she met another man who was also positive as she was and got engaged after her father approved their marriage. With this, the people started saying that she got remarried again for sex (de Souza, R., 2010), none thinking of the companion and other reasons one may get into marriage.
Her advocate for using condoms emphasized the positive aspects of using protection during sex. The introduction of female condoms in her community would significantly impact most men who were against using male condoms since they viewed women as sex and reproduction tools. Female condoms would as well play a role in family planning. Many women in low-income countries may experience a failed need for family planning and deficit contraceptive options to satisfy their needs, especially when they are at high risk of contracting HIV and other STIs. This may result from their lack of say over reproductive and sexual decisions due to gender imbalance (Pinchoff, J.,2019). Female condoms may be of aid in protecting in such times.
In her work, she also interacts with female sex workers and educates them on some of the safety measures they should consider applying during their work. In her interaction with the sex workers, she learned some of the challenges they face in their daily activities. A nineteen-year-old girl shared her experience with some men who threatened to beat her up in failure to satisfy their sexual needs, others forced her to have unprotected sex, and others called her names, such as a whore (Katsulis, Y.,2010). However profitable this kind of business is claimed to be, it would be one of the quickest ways to spread HIV/AIDS if care and precautions are not practiced. Most men visiting such places are driven mainly by the desire to get sexual satisfaction from the female sex workers, hence, upholding the mentality that women are good for nothing more than sexual satisfaction.
Many people would not want to interact with sex workers and are often not included in communal activities (Lakkimsetti, C., 2014). For this reason, they have no friends, if not a few. HIV/AIDS has, however, been the reason why people would want to interact with sex workers since it is the only relevant topic one could enjoy sharing with them. Some sex workers refer to HIV as their first friend since it’s the reason for their recognition by both the government and NGOs (Lakkimsetti, C., 2014). How could one say that a killer disease that causes much harm to the body, stigmatization, among many other issues, is her friend? Interesting! However, Sandra chose to work with the NGO as an opportunity to get to the sex workers and share various problems, such as gender, sexuality, and health. She did her work perfectly despite the many criticisms she faced at the beginning and significantly impacted the sex workers’ lives.
Commercial sex work was started purposefully to help men meet their sexual desire (Davies, S.G., 2014). For this reason, it has been legalized in some places where sex workers can operate and do their businesses without any disturbance. However, sex workers’ clinics have been established in such sites to ensure health standards are met even as the sex workers operate. Such clinics are also set up to help curb the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. The sex workers are always expected to visit the clinic for frequent screenings and medical tests. This helps them know their health status and take the necessary precautions to prevent contracting the virus (Katsulis, Y.,2010). It is also easier for the different reproductive health sensitization government groups and non-governmental organizations to reach the sex workers through the clinics and provide the necessary support, such as providing them with protective condoms, among other aids.
In some places, commercial sex is considered prostitution and is prohibited and punishable by law. The main idea behind restricting commercial sex is shame (Davies, S.G., 2014). Sexuality and other Sex-related acts are considered shameful and should rarely be discussed. However, the social factor may also lead one into prostitution. A case was reported before the court in Indonesia where five civil savants were caught in a hotel room with forty-four sex workers and were charged with violating the law prohibiting commercial sex. During the court trial, one of the men explained that he got into the act since he had domestic issues with his wife, so he needed someone else to help satisfy his sexual desires (Davies, S.G., 2014). Such strict regulations could also be of significant impact in preventing the transmission of most sexually transmitted infections. Furthermore, adult content, such as pornographic content, is also banned in these areas. This protects the young generation from developing ill sexual motives at a young age, which may lead them into irresponsible sexual behaviors.
One major problem in the fight against most sexually transmitted infections is the traditional beliefs and culture (Van Den Borne, F., 2007). For instance, when we reflected on Sandra’s case when she lost her husband, she was accused of infecting her husband with the infection. HIV was new to the people, and different contradicting theories were developed explaining its kind of disease. They also believed that it was a disease carried by women and that there was no way Sandra’s husband would have contracted the disease if not for her. The man passed the virus to Sandra, who again would have given it to someone else, but she chose not to and instead decided to live her life campaigning and sensitizing people on the deadly disease she contracted. Another cultural practice illustrated in Sandra’s story was the act of marrying off young girls and viewing them as a source of wealth. This again exposed the girls like Sandra to sexual harassment and, even worse, sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
In most cases, it is always perceived that the female gender is the one to bear most of the shame when caught in prostitution. Society will always judge the female as immoral and subject her to isolation and stigma. This is not only common in the societal perspective but also a religious setup. It’s, however, both the male and the female to blame. Men would even refer to sex workers as whore as they have sex with them. This again brings the issue of gender imbalance as one gender is perceived to be superior.
Interestingly, sexually transmitted infections do not spare the more superior gender than the other. All are vulnerable to infections regardless of gender or sexuality. Another misconception that has gained momentum lately is the belief that having oral and anal sex lowers the chances of getting infected, which is a fallacy! Any unprotected sex makes one vulnerable to diseases.
Additionally, the community views those infected with HIV, especially women involved in a series of sexual sins, as society’s most toxic and immoral members. This is another wrong perception and assumption based on Sandra’s story and how she got infected with the virus. Sandra was married very young and innocent, and her husband could have infected her. This idea of how the community will view and talk about an infected person has made many people shy away from sharing their health status and discussing their challenges with their health condition. The fear of opening up may worsen the infection rate as even the married couple will not be that free to share with their partners. Creating awareness on different issues, such as gender-based violence, health awareness, and sexuality, is key to seeing through a healthy community’s growth and development.
In conclusion, the relationship between sexuality, gender, and global health is critical. The community, religious groups, the government, and other concerned groups and individuals should take a keen interest in pointing out how best to go about the many unending challenges that revolve around these three essential aspects of life; sexuality, gender, and global health. They should also start different programs to educate the public on various aspects of health, beginning with creating HIV /AIDS awareness so that the whole idea of one getting stigmatized after infection should stop. Many people have ended their lives because they fear what the community will say about their HIV status. Finally, the relevant parties should also address the issue of gender imbalance (Nagel, J., 2006). Both the male and female genders are equal, and no gender should be viewed as a tool to exploit another gender’s sexual desires.
References
Katsulis, Y., Lopez, V., Durfee, A. and Robillard, A., 2010. Female sex workers and the social context of workplace violence in Tijuana, Mexico. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 24(3), pp.344-362.
De Souza, R., 2010, May. Women living with HIV: Stories of powerlessness and agency. In Women’s Studies International Forum (Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 244-252). Pergamon.
Lakkimsetti, C., 2014. “HIV is our friend”: Prostitution, biopower, and the state in postcolonial India. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 40(1), pp.201-226.
Nagel, J., 2006. Ethnicity, sexuality, and globalization. Theory, culture & society, 23(2-3), pp.545-547.
Hawkes, S. and Buse, K., 2013. Gender and global health: evidence, policy, and inconvenient truths. The Lancet, 381(9879), pp.1783-1787.
Pinch, J., Boyer, C.B., Nag Chowdhuri, R., Smith, G., Chintu, N. and Ngo, T.D., 2019. The evaluation of the Woman’s Condom marketing approach: What value did peer-led interpersonal communication add to promoting a new female condom in urban Lusaka? Plos one, 14(12), p.e0225832.
Davies, S.G., 2014. Surveilling sexuality in Indonesia. In sex and sexualities in contemporary Indonesia (pp. 47-68). Routledge.
Van Den Borne, F., 2007. Using mystery clients to assess condom negotiation in Malawi: some ethical concerns. Studies in Family Planning, 38(4), pp.322-330.
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