'outlook: HOT and STICKY'
page 2 of 2
contents
of issue 83
back
issues
the
gazette
recipes
small
ads
contacting
us
weblinks
Excuses are good, but excuses can mess up your life. I
completely agree that condoms are unnatural. But then again HIV is unnatural.
It would never have become more than a localised disease were it not for
our modern global world. Unnatural problems - unnatural solutions.
Condoms are not the only solution. Relax! I'm not thinking of abstinence.
Health promotion work is not easy at all, but the more work we do, the
more HIV positive results are recorded. It could be that the work done
in encouraging people to test will slowly work after all.
Real evidence of effective methods, however, usually shows years after
the message has been preached. There is a big chance that people testing
today actually got infected years ago.
What we need to know is how people are responding to methods
being used today. I hope the men I talk to in my advice work aren't just
collecting condoms as souvenirs.
Enough about condoms, anyway. African men have a problem. We do. I'm not
being racist, I'm just expressing my honest views.
When the missus talks too much, we get a mistress who doesn't. When the
woman won't have males, we find a woman who will. When the sex becomes
less exciting, we change the partner.
We don't fancy visiting sex therapists either. Africans don't talk to
strangers about their sex lives. We don't even like counselling. Yet replacing
your partner for a new model is rarely the best treatment.
Africans or gay men, in particular, have to realise that we could become
a threatened species. Everyone else may decide to risk having unprotected
sex, but in my opinion - we just can't.
Grappling with these dilemmas? E-mail me on:
simwenda@aol.com.
I might be able to help
