Fatal Confluences: Islam, Gender, and HIV/AIDS in Malaysia
March 28, 2006. Walter E. Edge Lecture
What makes women vulnerable to HIV infection? What protects them? Are those factors that make them susceptible to infection inherent, or are there factors in the environment outside their control that makes them vulnerable?
Many of the messages that attempt to protect people from HIV infection talk about avoiding promiscuity and practicing the supposed opposite, abstinence. But how effective are these messages in certain societies where moral and religious messages conflict with public health precepts about containing epidemics? What does promiscuity really mean? Does it mean having sex outside marriage, with several partners? In Muslim countries where polygamy is widespread, what does this type of multiple partner relationship mean for HIV prevention? Specifically, what does this mean for the protection of women from HIV?
Malaysia claims to be a moderate and modern Muslim country. In many ways it is. Yet of late, changes in Muslim family laws have placed the position of women several steps backwards. Women have become disadvantaged in several ways, including economically. At the same time, HIV infections among women have been rising rapidly. Is there a connection?
The story of a group of HIV+ Muslim women in the conservative state of Kelantan, Northeast Malaysia, may well be a lesson in how a combination of cultural, social, and religious mores can prove fatal for women.