"Your body is a wrapped lollipop. When you have sex with a man, he unwraps your lollipop and sucks on it. It may feel great at the time, but, unfortunately, when he's done with you, all you have left for your next partner is a poorly wrapped, saliva-fouled sucker."
The above quote is from a speaker at the George W. Bush AIDS campaign in Western Africa. In an attempt to eliminate AIDS from the region the Bush administration launched a "Don't be a sucker! Save Sex for Marriage!" campaign. The idea of the campaign was that AIDS had been a result of "promiscuity" on the part of African women. However, as one African woman, who had worked as a prostitute and then married said, "I got AIDS later, from my husband. In the brothel, I always used condoms. But when I married I didn't use them. A woman with a husband is in much more danger than a girl in a brothel."
What are your thoughts? Please feel free to add anything. I got my information above from the book Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn.
::Maura
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ReplyDeleteI think this comment is ridiculous and soooo gendered. Especially knowing that this quote is from an AIDS prevention campaign it is once again putting all the blame for a sexual disease that takes two partners to partake in how it is spread, and puts all the blame and all the responsibility on the woman. And yet it is even more important to note that this is not the responsibility of sexual health and safe sexual practices but rather of desexualizing yourself. Especially when you look at the fact shared here as well as in some of the articles we have read this semester: saving sex for marriage does not save you from AIDS. It's really a very misleading and harmful idea.
ReplyDeleteEmilia M.
I agree with Emilia, marriage does not prevent you from catching stds or aids but at the same time if both partners wait until marriage to have sex then the chances of catching an std are fairly slim (if they are faithful, of course).
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emilia, marriage does not prevent you from catching stds or aids but at the same time if both partners wait until marriage to have sex then the chances of catching an std are fairly slim (if they are faithful, of course).
ReplyDeleteSimone McGary
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ReplyDeleteI'm responding to this post SUPER DUPER LATE because I thought the lead blogger was suppose to have posted their entry on Wednesday 8pm. I checked the blog several times after 8pm on Wednesday and nothing had been posted :C
ReplyDeleteI got the e-mails you all sent so. I understand the situation so hopefully I can still get credit for this because I wasn't expecting a lead blog post on Thursday? Does that make sense Marilyn?
In response to the post,
I literally laughed out loud when I read the quote posted above. Honestly, this is ridiculous, especially in the campaign blaming "promiscuity" for the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This is alarming and concerning to me. What about children born with HIV? How were they engaging in promiscuity? What about women who are raped and sexually assaulted. Rape is NEVER EVER a woman's fault, even if she is promiscuous. Also, as pointed out in the post, where does this leave women who contract the disease while married to a man who is suppose to me faithful? Also, how does this protect men? This campaign seems to only be geared to women, but obviously women are contracting this disease from men who are not protecting themselves. I mean I suppose the people responsible for this campaign had good intentions, but it sends the wrong messages ("Women don't have sex until your married because then you will be protected from AIDS FOREVER.....oh yea but then again you could maybe...possibly get the illness from a not so faithful hubby but that's for suckas) and it forgets about the men. No me gusta
Ashley
I found the end of the quote the most disturbing. "A woman with a husband is in much more danger than a girl in a brothel." When you think about the AIDS epidemic in Africa, what we think of one of the biggest problems being is the lack of education about birth control. But in the case of this woman who had formally been in contact with numerous men, she took the safer route and protected herself. Then, someone she possibly respected and loved, was the one to infect her. The emotional and mental turmoil this situation would cause seems daunting.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of this AIDS campaign during the second Bush's era, but I find their method of teaching wrong and misinformed. Scare tactics almost always back fire, and today, we know people have sex. Telling people that having sex is making them worth less is not good motivation for having less sex. More comprehensive and preventative practices could be more successful in a continent where 22 million people are living with HIV or AIDS.
-Claire L.