African Cultures That Make the Spread of Hiv/Aids Easy

African Cultures That Make the Spread of Hiv/Aids Easy

African Cultures that Make the Spread of HIV/AIDS Easy

The rich African culture as it were, was and still is, admirable except for a few misgivings. The moral of circumcision for males was a virtue for the Bagisu, but to test out manhood thereafter, becomes a crisis in this time and age where sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS are alert and about.

It was a great consolation to have a widow inherited after her husband died, considering her well being and raising the children with a father figure. However, under today’s circumstances, African women like Uganda’s HIV/AIDS activist Beatrice Were and the Obwanda Distress Relief Woman’s Club in Kenya, live to tell of how they stood against such a custom especially in the realization of HIV/AIDS. Yet this culture still looms over Africa affecting a number of those who are not awakened to the dangers of it.

In Africa a woman is subordinate to a man. Even in sexual engagement. Her right to denial of a man regardless of the circumstance prevailing especially if he is her husband is not recognized. A woman’s ‘no’ remains an African man’s ‘yes’. The whole sexual act is left to the man as the key determinant, leaving the woman as the passive player going down for whatever. If a woman dares to take charge she is often labeled a prostitute.

Among some tribes like the Masai, Batuku, Kambari and Banyankole wife sharing was common. In some instances the father in law was allowed a night with the bride to sample and see whether the girl was worth the cows he gave as bride wealth. Wife sharing encounters were common among blood relations and blood friends. This activity still remains hidden but active among some strong proponents of cultural practices. Just like the issue of the Kabaka of Buganda marrying a young virgin girl as tradition cropped up once to the shock of women activists in Uganda.

Visiting the shrine for divination in Africa is a general practice witnessed in Nigerian movies and even South African...

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