In the Feb.17, 1999 edition of the International Herald Tribune, there was a
story on the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. The journalist describes how
ignorance, denial, and misplaced cultural beliefs are contributing to to
spread
of AIDS.
Over 6 million are already infected with the immunodeficiency virus and the
projected infection rate will soon equal neighboring Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Polygamy, male promiscuity, and sexual mores that allow men to dictate norms
of
intercourse leave women helpless and vulnerable. Male promiscuity is
traditionally admired and female subservience demanded.
Men refuse to wear condoms and if a woman asks for protection, she leaves
herself open to being beaten or accused of promiscuity herself.
AIDS is believed to be caused by: bewitching, racist whites injecting fruit
with
the disease, and angry tribal ancestors.
Many hold the belief that only prostitutes can get AIDS; while some men
fancy
fat women, deluding themselves that only thin women can transmit the
disease.
"The moment you become slim, they say you have got it."
Women live with the stigma of AIDS and fear their men and families will
abandon
them---their neighbors will ridicule them and call them prostitutes.
They beat Gugu to death...
Such fears are well founded, the reporter writes:
"A KwaZulu-Natal woman, Gugu Dlamini, who publicly acknowledged her
HIV-positive
status on World AIDS Day last year, was beaten to death for revealing
something
that her community felt brought it into disrepute."
Sometimes it really does take a village.
---VS Ferguson
