Colonialism & HIV//AIDS

[Guest guest]

Dear Mr. Kole,

I think you misinterpreted almost all of what I was saying and what my

intentions are. I never justified colonialism and never said that a Western or

American approach to HIV/AIDS would be appropriate for India. I firmly believe

that Indians must decide, using scientific evidence on what works and what the

needs are, how to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

" Who decides that Indians should be " made " more comfortable on sexuality

issues? "

Indians do, of course. Colonialism made Indians do and think a lot of things but

now it is time for Indians to think for ourselves and we are. We should make

ourselves pay attention to the real needs of our people and not be distracted by

obfuscating politics and power play.

" And now you are saying that a society is measured by how well it treats it

women. "

No- I am not saying it- it was actually Stuart Mill, a 19th century

Western historian. This idea was given and is given to justify illegal

colonization. I used sati and child marriage as examples because those *were*

the " women's question " issues in the 19th century. These issues shaped

discursive politics to a large extent- between the british raj, anticolonial

nationalists, and social reformers.

My point was that the way you approach the vulnerability of women is not about

what are their needs regarding HIV prevention and treatment. Your approach was

more like 'Indian women are better than American women' or this is what Indian

women should be like and this is what they should be doing.

I find your whole argument on pornography and witchcraft totally irrelevant to

the discussion. Again, the issues is not which nation- America or India- is

doing a better job or is more morally correct. America is a mixed up world of

extreme conservatism and extreme sexual abuse, objectification and misogyny. You

also have a very shallow understanding of American cultural values regarding

sex, which you obviously picked up from the media which is not representative of

real American society, but that is an issue for another discussion perhaps not

on this forum.

I am very concerned at your denialist attitude toward sex and sexuality- it's

totally reminiscent of a typical right-wing American ideologue. If you look at

the statistics, generated by Indians themselves along with people from other

nations, on which Indians are most vulnerable to HIV infection, 62% of them are

women, and one-third of them are ages 15-24. Most young women infected are

married and monogamous.

And just look at the population! Indians are having sex! It is not a good or bad

thing- it is just a scientific fact! The only logical conclusion to me is that

people need to have HIV/AIDS education and services and know that it is spread

in India primarily through heterosexual sex.

Numerous studies both by the East and West have shown that sexual health

education does not increase promiscuity but actually reduces the number of

partners, pushes the age of sexual debut back, and results in increased condom

usage. Sexual and reproductive health education is not just an American concept.

In fact Americans are probably doing the WORST on sexual and reproductive health

education out of most countries- developed and developing. Their ridiculous

policies on opposing commercial sex work in HIV/AIDS policy and abstinence-only

education are to the great detriment of HIV/AIDS work. But strangely enough it

sounds like from the tone of your post you might support these policies for

India?

Personally I believe that what young Indian women need (as a young Indian woman

myself) is full and accurate sexual and reproductive health education that

reaches them in a culturally sensitive and appropriate manner when they need it

(before they are married!) and it must be accompanied by long term initiatives

such as microcrediting (highly successful in Bangladesh) to promote gender

equality and empowerment so that young women can put their knowledge into

effect. This is not about having the right to sleep around like Americans (an

odd notion to say the least)- it's about having the right to make decisions with

their partners about safe and healthy sexuality and reproduction- key to

preventing HIV transmission.

In South Asia here are some numbers on coverage from the WHO, numbers generated

by the local country offices-

VCT: 0.1%

PMTCT: 8%

Condoms: 8%

IDU: 5.4%

Sex Worker interventions: 19%

MSM: 1%

HIV/AIDS edu in primary schools: 17%

secondary schools: 83%

Obviously the coverage does not match the needs! The numbers are not

disaggregated by sex or age (I can find you other numbers if you like), but my

overall point again is that we, Indians (which is how I identify myself in terms

of my culture, religion, and politics) need to acknowledge who is at risk and

what the needs are, and programme accordingly.

Thank you,

Joya Banerjee

e-MAIL: <banerjee@...>