WOMEN AND GIRLS

Some system of patriarchy, with men in a dominant decision-making role, seems to be almost universal.  In many Caribbean countries, there are almost twice as many young women as men in universities and women occupy highly prestigious positions.  But the same women say that the decisions about when and how to have sex are made by their boy-friends and husbands, not by themselves.  This seems to be common across the world.  Even though they may be empowered in other ways, relatively few women or girls seem to be free to make critical decisions that affect their own lives.

Almost every country that I visited could speak of the different sexual expectations for women and men.  Women were expected to be docile, submissive, accepting, unquestioning, and not well versed in sexual matters.  South American countries have begun to use the word “marianismo” to refer to this, but this is neither reverent to Our Lady nor true to the proactive, caring woman of the Visitation and Magnificat.  It is for this reason that I have coined the word “feminismo” to refer to the passive, subordinate role that so many cultures ascribe to women, particularly in the sexual sphere.

On the other hand, sexual experience and having many sexual partners (usually one after the other) is often seen as a matter of male prestige.  The “macho” image is strong and universal.  It is taken for granted in very many societies that boys should have many girlfriends, whereas a girl should “stick to one boy”.  These different sexual expectations put huge pressures on the young people, whatever their sex, to act accordingly, and for many the outcome is increased exposure to the risk of HIV infection.

Almost every country seems to be following the road we have travelled in Africa where HIV/AIDS is becoming more and more a woman’s disease.  Historically, the disease started among men and clearly it is transmitted mostly by men.  But women and girls are the ones who bear the brunt.  Physiologically, socially and economically, they are more vulnerable to infection and are at higher risk.

As a result, more and more of them are becoming infected -- everywhere.  Globally, more than half of those who are HIV-infected are women.  In Malawi, 56% of the infections are found among women, and in Zambia 59%.  In addition to carrying their own burden of HIV infection, women and girls continue to have the major responsibility of caring for others who are infected, holding homes together and making ends meet.

Very clearly the “feminization of poverty” and the distinctive “feminine face of oppression” to which the Jesuit 34^th General Congregation referred in 1995 are now being made worse by the ”feminization of HIV/AIDS”.  The vulnerability and predicament of women are overwhelming.  Globally, gender relations are at the epicentre of the epidemic, but little is being done to address the problem.  This is a major challenge that none of us can ignore.

CASUAL AND COMMERCIAL SEX

Casual and commercial sex are found everywhere.  They seem to be a normal feature of life for a large proportion of men and women.  In cultures that allow more freedom to men than to women, it may be considered acceptable even for married men to have sex with commercial sex workers.  These attitudes and practices lead readily to the man becoming HIV infected and subsequently bringing the infection to his wife.

Parts of India and Nepal experience massive and unceasing migration of men in search of work.  What is coming to light now is the extent to which, along with their earnings, these migrant workers bring home HIV.  Similarly, at the Durban AIDS Conference in July 2000, an African mother stated that as far as becoming infected with HIV was concerned, the most risky thing a young African woman could do was to get married, because of the likelihood that her husband would infect her.

But there is another and more tragic side to commercial and even casual sex.  It is that this may be the only way available to many women for supporting themselves and their children.  For them it is a business and a livelihood.  Our stigmatising attitudes make it difficult for us to see deeper than the woman waiting at the street corner.  We fail to see that, when the motley array is taken off, the person beneath is a tired, harassed, caring, concerned, loving mother doing the only thing she is able to do for the support of her children (and all too often of her husband as well).  For her sex is not pleasurable or glamorous.  Neither does she see it as a moral issue.  For her, it is a matter of life and death, a survival strategy for herself and her children.

CONTROL OF INFECTION

Because of the risk of HIV infection, there is much focus on reducing or controlling casual and commercial sex.  This has taken many forms.  Uganda has been successful in reducing HIV prevalence largely because of the promotion of what they call “zero grazing” -- a man “tethered” to his wife and never roaming away from her to another woman (like a cow or goat tied to a tree and grazing only on the grass within reach).

“Safer sex” is the mainstay of the response of many international organizations.  By this they mean any physical sexual activity other than unprotected (without a condom) penetrative sexual intercourse.  It is worth noting that in the year 2000 the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano carried an article from a high level Vatican official in which he stated that Thailand’s requirement that condoms be used within its thriving sex industry had particularly good results and in the circumstances was actually a lesser evil.

A third approach is the legalisation of the sex industry.  This generally entails the registration of commercial sex workers and the licensing of brothels.  Dakar in Senegal is regarded as one of the largest commercial sex centres in Africa, but the rate of HIV transmission in Senegal is less than one percent.

Among other things (other major factors are the high level of selenium in the soil, and hence in people’s diet, and the practical agreement of the government, Islamic and Catholic authorities that they would all speak with one voice, each advocating the line that was in agreement with its own teaching, and none disagreeing in public with the line that the others might take.) this is because registered sex workers are required to have regular medical examinations, including examinations for sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS.  They are prohibited from practising their trade if they do not have a medical card showing that they are free of infection.  While this may speak well for concerns about public health, it is a sad comment on how women are viewed.  It seems to treat them as merchandise to be suitably packaged before sale, commodities that can be trafficked if they are in the right condition.

VIOLENCE AND CHILD ABUSE

It was distressing when travelling to learn that violence with potential to transmit HIV was so universally common.  Three forms were spoken about almost everywhere: rape, the sexual abuse of children, and forced sex among prisoners.  Human Rights Watch has drawn attention to the varied abuses of women’s human rights in many parts of the world.  These include rape within and outside of marriage and other sexual violence and coercion (often abetted by poverty, domestic violence, and unequal property and inheritance rights).

Sexual abuse of children also seems to be nearly universal.  As Catholics, we are greatly distressed when we hear about the abuse of children by priests and religious in the United States, Ireland, England, and even here among us.  The very sad fact is that the abuse of children is very widespread, with the majority of acts of abuse being committed by a family member or trusted adult.  The increasing evidence of incest involving children is stunning.  One wonders whether this is something new in the world, or whether it has always been with us.

Violence and sexual abuse within schools, especially where there is a large proportion of male teachers, is also very common.  South Africa has found that one half of all schoolgirls are forced to have sex against their will, one third of them by teachers.  Across the world, millions of girls -- many orphaned by AIDS or otherwise without parental care -- suffer in silence as their societies fail to provide basic protection from sexual assault that would lessen their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

Zambia is one of the few countries that has a strong HIV/AIDS prevention programme for prisoners --“In But Free”, a community-based programme of the Copperbelt University and the Zambia Prison Service.  Among other things, the need for the programme arises because of the unprotected sex that occurs between male prisoners.  This is not allowed, of course, but everybody knows that it happens.  Prison systems in other countries experience the same problem, especially where prisons are crowded.  Some of the sexual activity is consensual, but much is forced, particularly on more recent and younger prisoners.

The system carries dangers for the prisoners, that they will contract HIV from one another, and for the wider public, that when the  prisoners are released  they will spread HIV among their family and friends.  It has been said that Russia’s severely overcrowded prison system, and its practice of decongesting them periodically by releasing large numbers of prisoners, act like a carburetor for HIV, pumping high concentrations of the infection out into the general population.

In all three cases -- rape, the sexual abuse of children, and forced sex among prisoners -- those who are violated are often afraid to report what has happened to them.  They fear they will get the blame and be punished.  They feel ashamed of what has happened.  They feel that their very violation has made them detestable and outcast.  Many of them bear the scars of shame, fear, self-stigma and low self-esteem for the rest of their lives.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Writing from Japan in 1549, St. Francis Xavier observed that homosexuality was reasonably common.  Were he alive today, he could say the same for very many other countries.  Homosexual activity seems to occur in all societies, even though in many it is almost a taboo topic. Homophobia -- abhorrence of a sexual relationship between two people of the same sex, but mostly that between men, and discrimination against the participants -- ensures that much that is related to homosexual activity remains underground.  Many cultures deny that it occurs among their members, and in many countries (such as India and Zambia) homosexual acts are against the law.

But HIV/AIDS is unmasking the hidden reality.  Those at the highest risk of contracting or transmitting HIV are men who have sex with men, and these have been brought under the spotlight by the spread of HIV/AIDS.  Along one dimension, this has contributed very strongly to the stigma and discrimination associated with being HIV positive.  Being sick with the disease is seen as suggesting that one may be homosexual, and once that association is there, the homophobia quickly follows.

Along another dimension, the spread of AIDS is revealing how common homosexuality is in all parts of the world.  Even societies like those in many parts of the Caribbean or Africa are recognising that homosexual sex has old roots and is fairly commonly practised.  In many cases, however, what is going on does not come to light because the man has also contracted a regular marriage and appears as an ordinary husband and father.

Possibly even more surprising is the way HIV/AIDS is revealing how common bisexuality is -- married men in a stable union, with a good wife and loving children, “once in a while” having sex with other men.  Bisexuality also shows itself among men who have sex with men because they are cut off from the possibility of a female sexual partner due to living in mostly single-sex situations -- miners, migrant farm workers, refugees, prisoners, boarding school students -- but who will revert to sex with women when they leave these situations.

THE CHALLENGE

The masking of homosexual activity through a regular marriage, and the practice of bisexuality, both increase the possibility of HIV transmission.  There is the challenge of dealing with this.  But there is an even deeper challenge.  This is the challenge of opening up the Gospel message to every person, regardless of sexual orientation.

Theologians seem to be facing up to that challenge as they grapple with such difficult questions as “how can we ensure that the Gospel is good news for every person, irrespective of sexual orientation?” or “how can we ensure that Christ’s message is  a  message  of   liberation,  that boosts self-affirmation and self-esteem, for a person who has found fulfilling personal identity in the acceptance of his or her homosexual or lesbian orientation?.

In all parts of the world, HIV/AIDS is bringing more and more homosexual and lesbian individuals out into the open.  As it does so, it calls for much re-consideration of attitudes.  There is need for every door to be opened so that those who are oriented towards persons of the opposite sex do not break the crushed reed or quench the wavering flame in those whose sexual orientation is different.

(Continued in Part III, next issue of Bulletin, Education, Treatment and Nutrition)

Michael J. Kelly, S.J.
Luwisha House
Lusaka