AAS 17 Lecture 14: 3-7-18
30 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
3/7/18
Female Poverty
• Women who don’t have supportive consanguinal kin use marriage or other relationships w/
men to try and raise their social ranking.
• Transactional Sex: an ongoing, non-marital sexual relationship where a man offers economic
support to sexual partner.
o The person who is paying determines the way in which the sexual action will take place.
▪ Condom use is very low.
o See it in other parts of the world.
o In a place where historically the majority of women cannot marry, an STD will travel
very fast.
• Prostitution: involves a one-time payment for services rendered.
• Consequences for married women in societies w/ high levels of female singleness.
o In a society where the majority of women are not married, the accessibility of the
married men will have an impact on married men.
• Disappearance of marriage doesn’t mean an empowerment of women.
Why Condom Use is Low
• Strong association of condom use w/ prostitution and immorality.
• Association of sex w/ procreation.
o A woman who talks about sex and wants to use protection is like a woman who is having
sex for desire which sounds like a prostitute.
• Men pay less attention to personal health.
o Married men usually have a wife that pushes them to go to the doctor, etc.
• Men feel condoms interfere w/ sexual pleasure.
Respectability and Disease
• Gender conforming practices and respectability.
o A woman’s sexual history is important but not that of a man.
▪ Believe marrying a virgin wife means will not be affected with HIV, however not
true. Purity of a woman will not protect against HIV b/c a man could be affected
and he could affect his virgin wife.
▪ No one is concerned about the sexual history of the men.
o A good woman is a ‘womanly’ woman.
▪ Not spending time on her career. Focuses on domestic chores.
▪ Will be pleasing and nice. Not ask too many questions.
o Being a ‘good girl’ can protect a woman against HIV.
▪ Thought that if you have HIV, then you are immoral. If you don’t want HIV then
be moral.
▪ Think of HIV as an immoral disease.
o Being religious or older can protect a woman against HIV.
o It is bad manners to inquire why a spouse or sexual partner died.
o A good woman does not take proactive actions regarding sex.
▪ For a good woman sex catches you by surprise.
▪ The idea of planning ahead makes her an unwomanly woman.
o A good woman does not initiate conversation about sex or birth control w/ sexual
partners.
▪ If a man brings up the conversation of safe sex, it is good. A woman cannot bring
up this conversation.
▪ This leads to single motherhood, which leads to transactional sex.
o A good woman does not initiate conversation about condom use or protection against
STDs.
o Anyone who looks healthy should marry or have a boyfriend/girlfriend.
Consequences of Respectability
• High rates of HIV transmission in heterosexual sex.
• High rates of unplanned pregnancy.
• High rates of abortion among married and unmarried sexually active women.
o Abortion illegal in most African countries, yet see the highest rates of abortion in the
world.
• Low rates of prosecution and conviction for rape.
Women at Risk
• In relationships w/ older men.
• In situations of financial dependency.
• In relationships involving transactional sex.
• In love relationships.
o Have trust b/w e/o. To ask is to not trust.
• In relationships defined by ‘morality’ and respectability.
o Believe they don’t need to worry about HIV b/c their partner is moral.
• In relationships involving violence.
• Every sexual relationship in a high risk area.
Respectability ad Disease
• The high cost of being a womanly woman or a manly man.
• Women as enforcers of the patriarchal pact in Africa.
o Seen in FGC as well as when it comes to HIV aids.
o Women don’t get support from the women in their community. Women put pressure on
other women.
▪ Ex: woman who is HIV positive cannot breastfeed her child, but other women
say she is not a real woman if she doesn’t breastfeed her child.
Progress
• Uganda
