Negotiating gender and sexuality in the HIV/AIDS discourse in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Contradictions and paradoxes.

Abstract

The AIDS epidemic has been recognized as the most pressing national health problem in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Zenebe argues that HIV/AIDS prevention programs in Ethiopia are not producing expected results because they are not based on understanding the distinctive characteristics of the people’s sexual cultures shaped by relations of power, by history, and by differentiated traditions within the particular society. The focus of the thesis is on how dominant medical discourses about prevention and treatment of the HIV/AIDS pandemic intersect with ideas emerging from local traditions, religious norms, as well as notions of sexuality and gender.

The study shows that the dominant ‘scientific’ construction of the HIV/AIDS problem is often met with resistance by the women and men that are the target groups for the disease prevention programs. The thesis concludes that HIV/AIDS prevention programs in Ethiopia need to give attention to the phenomenon of sexuality, and the way it is shaped and constrained by factors including the complex and unequal relationships between men and women, rich and poor, and between North and South.