TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender relations and risks of HIV transmission in South India
T2 - The discourse of female sex workers' clients
AU - Aubé-Maurice, Joanne
AU - Clément, Michèle
AU - Bradley, Janet
AU - Lowndes, Catherine
AU - Gurav, Kaveri
AU - Alary, Michel
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2012/6
Y1 - 2012/6
N2 - In South India, where the majority of the country's cases of HIV are concentrated, transmission of infection occurs mainly within networks composed of female sex workers, their clients and the other sexual partners of the latter. This study aims to determine how gender relations affect the risks of HIV transmission in this region. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 30 clients and analysed qualitatively. Results show that clients perceive sexual relations with female sex workers as a vice involving loss of control and contact with women at the bottom of the social ladder. Paradoxically, this sometimes allows them to conform to the masculine ideal, in giving sexual satisfaction to a woman, in a context of incompatibility between the idealised and actual masculine and feminine archetypes. Attitudes to condoms, affected by various facets of the client-female sex worker relationship, are indicators of the link between this relationship and the risks of contracting HIV. The results suggest that there is a need for expanding targeted HIV prevention towards clients and female sex workers alongside more general interventions on gender issues, particularly among young people, focusing on the structural elements moulding current relations between men and women, with particular consideration of local cultural characteristics.
AB - In South India, where the majority of the country's cases of HIV are concentrated, transmission of infection occurs mainly within networks composed of female sex workers, their clients and the other sexual partners of the latter. This study aims to determine how gender relations affect the risks of HIV transmission in this region. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 30 clients and analysed qualitatively. Results show that clients perceive sexual relations with female sex workers as a vice involving loss of control and contact with women at the bottom of the social ladder. Paradoxically, this sometimes allows them to conform to the masculine ideal, in giving sexual satisfaction to a woman, in a context of incompatibility between the idealised and actual masculine and feminine archetypes. Attitudes to condoms, affected by various facets of the client-female sex worker relationship, are indicators of the link between this relationship and the risks of contracting HIV. The results suggest that there is a need for expanding targeted HIV prevention towards clients and female sex workers alongside more general interventions on gender issues, particularly among young people, focusing on the structural elements moulding current relations between men and women, with particular consideration of local cultural characteristics.
KW - HIV/AIDS
KW - India
KW - female sex workers
KW - gender relationships
KW - male sexual partners
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84861968355&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13691058.2012.674559
DO - 10.1080/13691058.2012.674559
M3 - Article
C2 - 22574910
AN - SCOPUS:84861968355
VL - 14
SP - 629
EP - 644
JO - Culture, Health and Sexuality
JF - Culture, Health and Sexuality
SN - 1369-1058
IS - 6
ER -