Myths around AIDS still abound Living with AIDS # 513
A lot of myths around HIV/AIDS could be grouped into three areas, which include racial conspiracy theories, traditional beliefs and religion. But many other beliefs are emerging. While studying these beliefs in several townships around a mining community of Mpumalanga province, Wits University professor of Sociology, David Dickinson, came across what he describes as ‘lay theories that are based on common sense and observation’. For example, he found that people can decide whether to have sex with another by merely looking at that person.
‘If you are fat or you’re beautiful or you’re not a sex worker or you’re educated, this apparently indicates that you’re not HIV-positive. A fat person isn’t positive because they are not ill and, therefore, they haven’t lost weight’, Professor Dickinson says.
He also found that trusting someone rather than knowing their HIV status also determines who people will choose as sexual partners.
‘One of the big things we do know is that people whom you trust are safe to have sex with. People feel comfortable after, maybe, even a few weeks or even less’.
The study found that older women are also considered safer sex partners. There were also ideas about how men can escape HIV infection without using condoms.
‘Sex with an old woman is safe’¦ Not based on the fact that she’s not HIV-positive, but the idea that she has a loose vagina. There is less friction. Therefore, it’s unlikely or less likely that the virus will be transmitted’.
This idea has led some men to believe that they can escape HIV infection without using condoms.
‘The other myth attached to this is that you can have sex on the second round without a condom. So, the first time you have penetrative sex with a woman in one night, let’s say, you should wear a condom because there’s higher friction levels. But if you then have a short break and then come back, there’s much more lubrication, the vagina’s been opened, there’s less friction, and, therefore, you don’t need to wear a condom’.
‘The idea is that the penis sucks up some of the fluid that’s there. Early on in the project a myth came up that said coitus interruptus, that is, the man withdrawing and ejaculating outside the woman protects the man. Now, anyone who has got any education in HIV/AIDS does a double take here because it should be coitus interruptus will protect the woman because by not putting the sperm into the woman there’s less chance that she would be infected.
But, of course, if you believe in the ‘penis sucks’ lay theory, it makes absolute sense because by ejaculating outside the woman you’re not going to be sucking up the vaginal fluids that are potentially HIV-positive’, Professor Dickinson, explains.
He says the beliefs have a degree of plausibility and it could take a lot of work to disprove them scientifically. The danger is that the more people believe in these lay theories, the more they will stop using condoms.
‘These AIDS myths are not only plausible within the paradigms that they are used, but they are palatable. They are attractive because you don’t have to wear a condom for some of them’, he says.
Myths based on Christianity also resurfaced. Dickinson says there are two beliefs that accompany the Christian myth.
‘The first is that HIV/AIDS is a punishment for sin and the second is that God can cure you. People who have HIV, therefore, may find it very attractive to join a community that believes that God can cure HIV and this has implications’.
The implications are often deadly. Rev. Gift Moerane, a member of the Gauteng AIDS Council is well aware of the problem.
‘There are some churches that are creating a crisis for us by encouraging people not to take treatment, promising that they will lay hands and, miraculously, people will be healed. It is a fallacy to say when you lay hands on people they will be healed. HIV/AIDS has no cure’, according to Reverend Moerane
Mythical beliefs found in Mpumalanga townships are but just an example of what myths possibly exist throughout the country.
‘Obviously, these myths are part of everyday life. I think if we went to an Indian community or we went to a white community, we would find different HIV/AIDS myths ‘ some overlaps and some differences’, Professor Dickinson says.
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