“ we was thinking we’re safe”: Southern lesbians that are african experiences of coping with HIV

Zethu Matebeni

1 Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA), University of Cape Town, Southern Africa

Vasu Reddy

2 Individual and Social Developing Analysis Programme, Human Sciences Analysis Council, Pretoria, Southern Africa

Theo Sandfort

3 HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, ny State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, ny, United States Of America

Ian Southey-Swartz

4 Open community Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), Johannesburg, Southern Africa

Abstract

HIV service and prevention programmes have actually very long either ignored or ignored lesbians. The experiences of lesbians with HIV have actually likewise been unrecognised and unreported. This erasure has added to your invisibility of lesbians in terms of HIV and associated health problems. This community participatory research, predicated on in-depth interviews with twenty-four self-identifying African lesbians living with HIV in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, centers on their individual experiences and circumstances. Ladies’ experiences shed light and challenge notions that are popular lesbian risk. In specific among this team are lesbians whom self-report exclusive relationships that are sexual ladies. For those females, experiences of coping with HIV are challenging because they battle to realize the chance for female-to-female transmission. While struggling with their particular perceptions of invulnerability and accepting their HIV good status, they should deal additionally with wide-ranging misconceptions about danger. The paper contends that in the context of HIV lesbians may not be considered a `no-risk’ team. Wellness solutions and wellness providers ought to react to the ongoing wellness requirements of lesbians coping with HIV.

Introduction

The wide and misconception that is existing same-sex practising females and lesbians 1 face no significant HIV-related wellness threats shows too little sensitive and painful research approaches in to the investigation of HIV risks associated with intercourse between females (Johnson 2007; Reddy, Sandfort and Rispel 2009). Feamales in same-sex relationships and lesbians stay hidden in HIV research, in prevention programmes along with to medical care providers. Fables and misconceptions about lesbian and same-sex practising ladies’ resistance have actually turned out to be thought by medical care providers in addition to by lesbians on their own (Wells and Polders 2005). For instance, Richardson (2000) contends that as a result of exclusion from HIV prevention communications, numerous lesbians think they’ll not get HIV and so are ignorant or reject safer sex techniques (Reddy, Sandfort and Rispel 2009).

Anecdotal proof through the Southern region that is african along with incidental information produced by away, a Pretoria-based LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) organization, suggests that women that take part in same-sex methods and lesbians are contaminated and afflicted with HIV and AIDS. They report that 8% of same-sex women that are practising had been conscious of their HIV status had disclosed as HIV good. The high rates of HIV amongst lesbians and bisexual females had been caused by alarming degrees of rape and intimate physical violence among females and lesbians, especially in Southern Africa, in addition to unsafe transactional intercourse with males generally speaking (Polders and Wells 2004).

Until recently, there is scant research on same-sex sex and HIV and helps with Southern Africa (Reddy, Sandfort and Rispel 2009). There clearly was now a developing critical corpus on MSM (males who possess intercourse with guys) and HIV in a number of high effect educational journals. Nevertheless, there is an important not enough focus on the experiences of same-sex practising ladies or lesbians in terms of HIV into the African continent as a entire. Such neglect of females’s experiences within research reflects an even more extensive gender-bias in the location where females continue steadily to experience obstacles to care and help (Jarman, Walsh and De Lancy 2005). More especially, lesbians are over looked in HIV research and avoidance techniques because of the failure to determine and appreciate the social and behavioural complexity of lesbians’ life (Dolan and Davis 2003) or that ladies are only a few the epidemiologically that is sameMora and Monteiro 2010).

Lesbian intimate behavior and HIV

The presumption of an in depth relationship between sexual behavior and sexual identification can be viewed as having contributed to lesbian neglect (Formby 2011; energy, McNair and Carr 2009; Richardson 2000). Lesbians are regarded as not to ever be at an increased risk for HIV since it is thought which they participate in sexual intercourse just with other ladies. This presumption overlooks an individual’s intimate history plus the reality that sexual identification is certainly not indicative of nor does it straight convert to intimate behavior. Therefore perhaps perhaps perhaps not self-evident that the lesbian’s intimate history excludes intercourse with guys or some other intimate methods (Roberts et al. 2000). |Khaxas (2008) argues that some cultural practices in Southern Africa render women’s bodies vulnerable and thus play a role in the spread HIV and AIDS. Lesbians aren’t resistant to these conditions.

As past studies have shown, social stigma, stereotypes and prejudice subscribe to making lesbians coping with HIV invisible (Wells and Polders 2005). The concomitant impact is that the experiences of lesbians with HIV autumn from the radar regarding the wider HIV positive community (Arend 2003). We keep sexier adult chat room that to concentrate on the experiences of lesbians managing HIV may help out with changing basic understandings of HIV transmission and consequently challenge presumptions about lesbian danger.

Techniques

The research observed a grouped community participatory approach. Through the beginning, the analysis ended up being dedicated to the transfer of abilities and ability building of neighborhood LGBT organisations within the places where research ended up being carried out. Such a method seeks make it possible for communities to be involved in the analysis of one’s own truth also to market social change for the main benefit of the individuals. Key to your understanding is individuals participation in decision-making procedures, creating, execution, sharing of advantages, evaluation and monitoring of tasks (Kumar 2000). The procedure additionally involves elements such as for example information offering, assessment, participation for product incentives and self-mobilisation. Core to such a method may be the part of community ability and its own relationship to avoidance practice and results.