This week I watched a movie called Little Teresa. It was actually done by a previous student who worked with Shanti Ashram in southern India on a field study. It was very well done and relates to my previous post about women who are HIV positive in India. The documentary focuses on a woman named Meenakshi and her story is the same as many women: her husband gave her HIV and then he died of AIDS. His family blamed her and would not help her so she was forced to find a way to care for herself and her child. Meenakshi is amazing in that she stood up and admitted she was HIV-positive and then became a spokesperson for HIV-positive people. So obviously, the topic of HIV is becoming more noticed; however, according to the statistical information that we have about HIV infection rates, something more needs to be done.
In one of the clips, Meenakshi was teaching women about HIV and she asked how someone contracts HIV. The women responded that it was by blood transfusion and/or a "bad relationship". When the counselor started to tell them about the dangers of unprotected sex (not just a bad marriage) and suggested condom use the women in the circle started giggling and laughing. Honestly I don't really know if this reaction is a cultural reaction or just something that most women tend to do. Generally here in the US some women tend to have the same reaction. They believe that if you are in a "good relationship" you will not get HIV and do not stop to think if their partners may have the disease. And then when a solution is presented, generally they tend to laugh and giggle. However, with time condoms has become a more frequent term and is no longer a taboo subject (when talking to an older audience). Even though initially the women may react by giggling, the depth of the subject matter is realized and taken seriously.But I wonder if the same solution would work in India. Would it work just to continually push the importance of using protection or should a different cultural solution be presented? Or if there is no other solution, is the way in which it is being presented effective? This is what I am wondering with my question, are the methods to prevent HIV that are being taught effective or should something else be done?
Wow Robyn this will be a really interesting topic to study. I just finished reading a book called Nine Lives that had a story about a few women who died of AIDS and the prevention measures that went wrong. It is a great read, it might be interesting for your project.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to my review on it.
http://rachelspassagetoindia.blogspot.com/2011/01/nine-lives-in-search-of-sacred-in.html