The distancing effect in the media
Everyday for the past week or so I have been going through the Times of India and Indian Express desperately searching for articles about HIV and AIDS. Most days, there is no mention of the virus that is now an EPIDEMIC in the city of Pune. On June 13th however, I found two. My excitement quickly turned to disappointment upon reading them both.
The article featured in the Indian Express titled, “Symposium to strengthen police response to HIV” was about a symposium to increase HIV awareness among police officers in Pune. While I agree that any HIV awareness campaign is important, what aggravated me was the rational behind the symposium. The rational was that police officers require HIV education more than other sectors of society because of their close contact with the groups deemed most at risk for HIV. These “risk groups” consisted of sex workers, drug users and men who have sex with men (MSM). Why is this a problem? It is a problem because once again, HIV information was presented in relation to specific groups and NOT the specific routes of transmission that put ANYONE at risk. Framing HIV and AIDS information in such a way causes the majority, who do not belong to these groups, to distance themselves from HIV and AIDS and decrease their own risk perception. The rationality of the masses then becomes, “HIV is not my problem”. As a result, so few feel the need to get tested, practice safe sex, educate themselves and others about HIV and AIDS, and finally, this type of discourse fuels even more stigma and discrimination directed towards people living with HIV. Saying that HIV exists among sex workers, drug users and MSM (disliked groups of society whose behaviour is perceived as immoral), perpetuates the myth that HIV is caused by immoral behaviour. HIV does not judge and is a virus with very specific biological traits that enters the body through very specific routes. Instead, the masses have a false sense of safety because of their detachment from “immoral” conduct. The effect is so implicit that we don’t even notice how powerful this phenomenon is.
What's more upsetting is that this article had the ability to educate so many people about HIV transmission and prevention!!! Instead, it only perpetuated the myth that HIV exists only among certain groups in society. The truth is that AIDS does not discriminate, and has now seeped into all sectors of society: rich, poor, male, female, educated, uneducated, etc. The only thing that can protect a person from HIV is the truth and the agency to apply this truth. Instead, we continuously reinforce the myths about HIV and AIDS through the reporting of so-called “facts”. A cycle that has resulted in a HIV prevalence in Pune that is twice the national average. When will this cycle stop?!
It certainly didn’t stop in the second article I came across in The Times of India, titled “AIDS: How it’s creeping into our lives: Nari Study focuses on Women Who Denied Being CSWs But Sought Treatment for STI”.
The title alone is misleading. It implies that women who have STIs are commercial sex workers in denial of their profession. The article then goes on to report that the majority of these women are married and have never had more than one sexual partner. Does that sound like a commercial sex worker to you???!!! The article gets even more ludicrous when it explicitly states that the women in the study are not representative of women in Pune in general, who apparently have a much lower HIV prevalence. I repeat, of the 1.,021 women in this study, the majority were married and had only one sexual partner. Does this not sound like a representative sample to you? How are they more like commercial sex workers than average Indian women who follow the traditions and customs of their society? The contradictions were endless, and the way this article managed to take this scientific study about HIV and women, and make it about commercial sex workers was preposterous!
While both articles did stress the importance of educating police officers and women who are at risk for STIs, they failed to mention the importance of educating ALL people. The opportunity to do just that was lost, once again, and the cycle of IGNORANCE and DENIAL continues……
The article featured in the Indian Express titled, “Symposium to strengthen police response to HIV” was about a symposium to increase HIV awareness among police officers in Pune. While I agree that any HIV awareness campaign is important, what aggravated me was the rational behind the symposium. The rational was that police officers require HIV education more than other sectors of society because of their close contact with the groups deemed most at risk for HIV. These “risk groups” consisted of sex workers, drug users and men who have sex with men (MSM). Why is this a problem? It is a problem because once again, HIV information was presented in relation to specific groups and NOT the specific routes of transmission that put ANYONE at risk. Framing HIV and AIDS information in such a way causes the majority, who do not belong to these groups, to distance themselves from HIV and AIDS and decrease their own risk perception. The rationality of the masses then becomes, “HIV is not my problem”. As a result, so few feel the need to get tested, practice safe sex, educate themselves and others about HIV and AIDS, and finally, this type of discourse fuels even more stigma and discrimination directed towards people living with HIV. Saying that HIV exists among sex workers, drug users and MSM (disliked groups of society whose behaviour is perceived as immoral), perpetuates the myth that HIV is caused by immoral behaviour. HIV does not judge and is a virus with very specific biological traits that enters the body through very specific routes. Instead, the masses have a false sense of safety because of their detachment from “immoral” conduct. The effect is so implicit that we don’t even notice how powerful this phenomenon is.
What's more upsetting is that this article had the ability to educate so many people about HIV transmission and prevention!!! Instead, it only perpetuated the myth that HIV exists only among certain groups in society. The truth is that AIDS does not discriminate, and has now seeped into all sectors of society: rich, poor, male, female, educated, uneducated, etc. The only thing that can protect a person from HIV is the truth and the agency to apply this truth. Instead, we continuously reinforce the myths about HIV and AIDS through the reporting of so-called “facts”. A cycle that has resulted in a HIV prevalence in Pune that is twice the national average. When will this cycle stop?!
It certainly didn’t stop in the second article I came across in The Times of India, titled “AIDS: How it’s creeping into our lives: Nari Study focuses on Women Who Denied Being CSWs But Sought Treatment for STI”.
The title alone is misleading. It implies that women who have STIs are commercial sex workers in denial of their profession. The article then goes on to report that the majority of these women are married and have never had more than one sexual partner. Does that sound like a commercial sex worker to you???!!! The article gets even more ludicrous when it explicitly states that the women in the study are not representative of women in Pune in general, who apparently have a much lower HIV prevalence. I repeat, of the 1.,021 women in this study, the majority were married and had only one sexual partner. Does this not sound like a representative sample to you? How are they more like commercial sex workers than average Indian women who follow the traditions and customs of their society? The contradictions were endless, and the way this article managed to take this scientific study about HIV and women, and make it about commercial sex workers was preposterous!
While both articles did stress the importance of educating police officers and women who are at risk for STIs, they failed to mention the importance of educating ALL people. The opportunity to do just that was lost, once again, and the cycle of IGNORANCE and DENIAL continues……
posted by Deep Griha at 10:37 pm
2 Comments:
deep!
simplifyx3 said thoreau.
as 90%of HIVirus is got thru sex adultery fornication incest m and f prostitution it is simple to prohibit extra marital sex. but NOT poss.condom is only 80% safe.
=media is half knowlij writers writing for money famw sensation.even the non medic experts err in many ways.
=there is the Informed Internet numerous Sites about HIV and HIV stage IV=AIDS.DrGeorgePradhan,mb/1950.india.
to friends at deep griha blog/21 sep 2007/india/doc.joj.
see, journalists shd be wary, note after millions of rupees over awareness programs, comdoms male and female, jugglery w statistics, and all sorts, the incidence of HIV is predicted to double by 2010.
I amm very much involved in the care and support of stages II and III HIV positives, with positive and negative spouses, and pos and neg children, waiting for the end sooner or later, in spite of all the funds poured. but the heart rending aspect is the silent change into the stage IV HIV +/- O.I.s = AIDS, where there is not at all enough shelter [Hospice likes] for the miserable dying. I have plans 2008 for simple low budget hospice models /pilot project/in this city vskpm,ind, which can be easily duplicated in every block/village. managed by any paramedic/lay social worker/ even the sufferer networks themselves..
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