Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporter
SELENA, AN HIV-positive mother of three, was once a teenaged girl who exchanged sex with an older man for money and gifts.
For her, it meant survival. Thrown out of her home at age 13, Selena was forced to live on the streets. At age 16, she was lured to a secluded spot by a cousin. She ended up being gang raped, shot and wounded and left for dead. She escaped by crawling through broken glass and falling into a ditch. After those experiences, Selena just wanted to feel safe.
Enter a North American, 40 years her senior. She moved in with him. By the time she turned 17, she was pregnant. It was her older lover who told her she was. Selena said she knew nothing about condoms and that even if she had, she could not have insisted on their usage.
"From a man say he can put you up for a while and yuh no have no where else to live, den yuh no have no choice. Him decide," she told The Gleaner recently.
UNEQUAL RELATIONSHIPS
Trapped by various circumstances, women and girls like Selena continue to live in unequal relationships where economic dependence on men weaken their ability to negotiate safer sex, leaving them vulnerable to HIV.
Transactional sex with older men is seen as one driving force behind statistics showing that teenage girls, aged 10 to 19, have a three times higher risk of getting HIV than boys their age.
In addition, on the issue of forced sex, the 2004 National Knowledge, Attitude, Behaviour and Practice (KABP) study, reported that 15 per cent of women and girls aged 15 to 24 reported being forced to have sex during the past year.
But not all women are trapped by circumstances. Health officials indicate that some women, among them those who are educated and economically independent, fail to protect themselves from HIV by opting not to use condoms, one of the best prevention methods.
Reasons for this include some women being 'blinded' by money.
Women are also at risk because they: blindly trust their partners (although partners may be having sex with others); have minimised risk perception; are uncomfortable with the idea of requesting condoms use; do not want to carry condoms as this may give the idea that they are promiscuous or cheating; may believe in stereotypical gender roles where men are supposed to lead; are allergic to condoms and are sometimes tricked by partners.
