CASE 45 AIDS, Condoms, and Carnival
Plus, Latin-style machismo leaves women with little bargaining power. Only 14 percent of Brazilian heterosexual men used condoms last year, according to AIDSCAP, an AIDS prevention program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
In other studies, many women said they would not ask their partner to use a condom, even if they knew he was sleeping with others. “Women are afraid of asking their men to have safe sex, afraid of getting beaten, afraid of losing their economic support,” says
Guido Carlos Levi, a director at the health department at Emilio
Ribas Hospital. “This is not Mexico, but we’re quite a machoistic society here.”
The frequency with which Latin men stray from monogamous relationships has compounded the problem. In studies conducted in Cuba by the Pan American Health Organization, 49 percent of men and 14 percent of women in stable relationships admitted they had had an affair in the past year.
In light of statistics showing AIDS as the number one killer of women of childbearing age in São Paulo state, public health offi cials launched a campaign promoting the female condom. The hope is that it will help women—especially poor women—protect themselves and their children. But the female condom seemed unlikely to spark a latex revolution when it hit city stores. The price is $2.50 apiece—more than three times the price of most male condoms. The Family Health Association is asking the government to help subsidize the product and to cut the taxes on condoms that make them out of reach for many poor Brazilians. “We’re looking for a pragmatic solution to prevent the transmission of HIVAIDS,” group President Maria Eugenia Lemos Fernandes said.
“Studies show there is a high acceptance of this method because it’s a product under the control of women.”
While 75 percent of the