Harmful sexual practices and gender conceptions in Kwazulu-Natal and their effects on the HIV/AIDS pandemic

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This paper looks critically at particularly two harmful sexual practices most prevalentamong the Zulu people in Kwazulu-Natal; virginity testing for girls, and the practice'dry sex.' It is mostly the ripple effects of these practices, regarding the spread ofmV/AIDS that is most alarming to medical science, leaving them no option otherthan to condemn this behaviour. This treatise however endeavours throughout toproffer understanding for the needs of a culture as diverse and unique as the Zulupeople. Further, this paper often looks from an overarching African perspective, sincedespite African peoples' differences in terms of linguistics, geography, religiosity andgeneral differences in daily run of the mill activities, there is a dominant socioreligiousphilosophy shared by all Africans.The, a, band c of virginity testing, and the resulting moral issues revolving aroundthis practice are addressed. The main issues regarding the repercussions of virginitytesting are discussed as well as the medical controversy involved in these issues. Thiswill prove the limited effectiveness of this practice and the potential, yet serious andharmful ramifications it has for girls who are tested.In stark contrast to these girls, stands the girl who starts at a very tender age with thepractice of 'dry sex', often encouraged and taught to her by female elders in order 'toplease men'. This practice serves as a very powerful tool for commercial sex workers,venturing the streets and the truck driver stops, as it lures men into making her thepreferred choice. So desperate are her socio-economic and cultural circumstances thatshe risks infection, and ultimate death, in order to comply with his need forunprotected and 'dry sex.' Numerous studies alert us to the fact that the drying agentsused lead to lacerations of the vaginal walls, causing SID's, which in tum, exacerbatethe spread of the disease.Zulu traditions and customs regarding sexuality and sexual relationships profferessential insight into the Zulu people's sexual behaviour. In order to strike a balancebetween two diverse cultural groups, the West and African, a critical assessment ofthe West's own sexual history guides us to understand the West's 'sober' practice of monogamy is no less 'permissive' and 'promiscuous' than the African's practice ofpolygamy.The paper also investigates the corresponding differences in relation to indigenousknowledge systems versus science. African people discern the body's physiology andanatomy metaphorically and symbolically. We cannot simply gloss over theseperceptions, enforcing scientific-based knowledge in our educational programmes,without consideration and accommodation for a very unique way of interpreting one'sdaily experiences and one's unique self.It is not only our biased discernment of indigenous knowledge that complicates theAids pandemic considerably, but it is also enhanced by the burden of stereotypedgender-roles. Not only is a paradigm shift regarding the imbalance of power verymuch needed, we also need to understand that the inculcated anger some men in theZulu culture fosters is a force to be reckoned with, as it displays psychologicalunderpinnings of damage, signalling very clearly the need for therapeutic measures ofhealing. Conversely, the female in the Zulu culture has started to empower herself, butnot always in terms of a beneficial end in itself. Similarly, it must alert us to the fineline separating the virgin-whore dichotomy, fuelled by her poverty-stricken and maledominatedexistence.It would appear that what we are fighting for is more than the preservation of lifewhilst engulfed by AIDS's scourge, but a global vision where the individual, or awhole community, with regard to mVIAIDS, is self-reproducing, pragmatically selfsustainableand logically self-contained. (Bauman 1994: 188)

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University