Der Henker
July 16th, 2004, 01:10 AM
http://www.thewbalchannel.com/health/3527634/detail.html
Some African Men Claim To Have AIDS When They Don't
Sociologist: Some Malawian Men Misperceive AIDS Risks
POSTED: 9:12 AM EDT July 14, 2004
AIDS may be an undesirable disease in America, but many rural African men say they're infected even if they aren't, thinking it speaks well of their masculinity and sexual prowess, according to a new study.
Amy Kaler, of the University of Alberta in Canada, studied the ways that young men in rural southern Malawi, Africa, talk about HIV and their own perceptions of risk.
Kaler found that a high number of sexually active young Malawi men say they are HIV-positive without having any medical evaluation or signs of AIDS. And many of the men have misperceptions about how infecious AIDS is.
"They assume, first, that it is everywhere and will eventually kill everyone and second, that AIDS is extremely infective and that if one has been exposed to the virus, one's days are numbered," said Kaler.
For example, schoolboys argued with their teacher that there was no point in working hard in school because no one would "remain alive in the coming five years," Kaler said.
The sociologist studied journals kept by people working with the Malawi Diffusion and Ideational Change Project, in which they wrote down every conversation, casual chat or passing reference about AIDS.
Kaler found that not only did the men associate manliness with HIV, but one man went so far as to correct another by saying that he had slept with all the desirable girls in one particular village, so if anybody is going to be the cause of an AIDS outbreak, it would be him.
In many settings, AIDS is associated with shame and guilt, but in other contexts, the virus may take on different meanings, said Kaler. She said that since men in many parts of the world emphasize sexual activity and taking risks in their daily conversation with one another, Kaler doubts that the Malawian men's attitudes are unique.
Some African Men Claim To Have AIDS When They Don't
Sociologist: Some Malawian Men Misperceive AIDS Risks
POSTED: 9:12 AM EDT July 14, 2004
AIDS may be an undesirable disease in America, but many rural African men say they're infected even if they aren't, thinking it speaks well of their masculinity and sexual prowess, according to a new study.
Amy Kaler, of the University of Alberta in Canada, studied the ways that young men in rural southern Malawi, Africa, talk about HIV and their own perceptions of risk.
Kaler found that a high number of sexually active young Malawi men say they are HIV-positive without having any medical evaluation or signs of AIDS. And many of the men have misperceptions about how infecious AIDS is.
"They assume, first, that it is everywhere and will eventually kill everyone and second, that AIDS is extremely infective and that if one has been exposed to the virus, one's days are numbered," said Kaler.
For example, schoolboys argued with their teacher that there was no point in working hard in school because no one would "remain alive in the coming five years," Kaler said.
The sociologist studied journals kept by people working with the Malawi Diffusion and Ideational Change Project, in which they wrote down every conversation, casual chat or passing reference about AIDS.
Kaler found that not only did the men associate manliness with HIV, but one man went so far as to correct another by saying that he had slept with all the desirable girls in one particular village, so if anybody is going to be the cause of an AIDS outbreak, it would be him.
In many settings, AIDS is associated with shame and guilt, but in other contexts, the virus may take on different meanings, said Kaler. She said that since men in many parts of the world emphasize sexual activity and taking risks in their daily conversation with one another, Kaler doubts that the Malawian men's attitudes are unique.