The Political Economy of Marriage and HIV: The ABC Approach, “Safe” Infidelity, and Managing Moral Risk in Uganda

Abstract

Research has shown that married women's greatest risk for HIV infection is their husbands' extramarital sexual activities. Using 6 months of ethnographic research in southeastern Uganda, I examined how the social and economic contexts surrounding men's extramarital sexuality and the dynamics of marriage put men and women at risk for HIV infection. I found that Uganda's HIV prevention messages may be inadvertently contributing to increased difficulty in acknowledging HIV risk and to newer forms of sexual secrecy and that structural determinants, including persistent poverty, intersect with gender inequalities to shape marital risk. After examining a community effort to regulate men's sexuality, I suggest that HIV prevention strategies should focus more on endogenous forms of risk reduction while simultaneously addressing structural factors that facilitate opportunities for men's extramarital sex.

Relationship dynamics and sexual risk behaviour of male partners of female sex workers in Kampala, Uganda

“…Sex work is a shamed profession (Mahajan et al, 2008), and disguising one's relationship with sex workers may protect a man's respectability which is predicted on being a faithful partner (Siu, Seeley, & Wight, 2013). HIV prevention messages that emphasise faithfulness in marriage have been reported to inadvertently contribute to new forms of sexual secrecy in Uganda (Parikh, 2007). However, the men in this study sustained relationships with the sex workers due in part to the health related (access to the clinic the women in our study attended) and financial benefits that accrued, as well as affection for their partner.…”

Pauline Challenge to African Masculinities: Reading Pauline Texts in the Context of HIV/AIDS

“…Although some studies have shown that marriage contributes significantly to the spread of HIV, since it tends to prohibit the use of condoms (Parikh 2007;Chirau 2006;Bruce & Clark 2004), it remains the second most efficient method of HIV prevention after abstinence, especially when the married couple are not infected and remain faithful to each other.…”

Creating a space for young women's voices: using ‘participatory video drama’ in Uganda

“…The ability to 'use' state and/or NGO provided knowledge regarding sexual health is of course refracted through the complex socio-cultural environment and emergent social relations that young people are located within that in turn constitute their subjectivities and positionalities. In semi-rural areas of Uganda, as in the case study of this paper (see below), the socio-cultural environment is an intriguing mix of the 'modern/changing' and the 'traditional' (see also Parikh 2007); the young women participants in this research receive sexual health education at school and through the radio, watch Nigerian soap-opera infused television, listen to hip hop music and some even carry mobile phones. Yet 'modern' young women in semi-rural Uganda are also inflected with more 'traditional' structures and prescribed sets of social relations that see them having an acute sense of generational hierarchies (particularly revolving around respect for parents and other elders) and patriarchal dominance.…”

“…The change from this positive phase comes quickly however, and the story descends rapidly into difficulty with the announcement of the father's loss of job and inability to pay school fees. There is therefore the need for the daughter to marry (with the implication that not only are the family unable to pay for her to go to school but they might need the 'bridewealth' income from her marriage to support the family; Parikh, 2007). The daughter, whilst saying 'no' to her fate, is unable to resist.…”