'It's in the nature of men': women's perception of risk for HIV/AIDS in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The paper examines the context of women's risk for HIV by assessing men's and women's sexual behaviour, attitudes towards sex work, and perception of risk for HIV in the city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. The findings are based on data collected in the mid-1990s, at the height of the epidemic. A range of significant issues were highlighted by the men and women who participated in this study. First, some men continued to have unsafe sex with sex workers. Second, fear of HIV motivated men to seek out friends and acquaintances instead of sex workers for sexual encounters because they were considered 'safe' from infection. Third, women in this study were largely unaware of this expansion of the sexual network beyond the sex work itself. Lastly, women's sexuality was largely unrecognized in public health responses, or by the male and female participants, leaving them at risk for HIV.
Morrison
Lynn
L
Department of Anthropology, University of Hawai'i at Hilo, HI 96720-4091, USA. lmorriso@hawaii.edu
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology* / Q000635:transmission; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D033262:Narration; D012309:Risk-Taking; D011477:Sex Work; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D012747:Sexual Partners; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013785:Thailand; D047568:Unsafe Sex / Q000523:psychology