Posted on 06/24/2004 9:56:13 AM PDT by summer
HIV/AIDS Striking Young Women More
By DANIEL LOVERING
Associated Press Writer
June 24, 2004, 12:01 PM EDT
BANGKOK, Thailand -- HIV/AIDS is increasingly striking young women, including married women previously thought to be at low risk of contracting the disease, a U.N. official warned Thursday. [....]
The disease had been associated mostly with men, sex workers, and drug users, but in recent years a growing number of victims have been "the ordinary housewife who is faithful to her husband" and considered unlikely to become infected by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
She cited a report released by the United Nations' AIDS agency last year that showed more than 7 million young women had contracted the disease worldwide at the end of 2001 compared to 4.5 million young men.
More recent studies in developing Asian countries have underscored rising infection rates among women, Lazo said at a women's shelter in Bangkok, run by the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women.[....]
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
just curious: how many of these married Thai women used to be unmarried Thai whores?
I don't know, but I still think if a woman is faithful -- and her husband is the one hanging around with whores -- the wife who is faithful (and was never a whore) may well be at a very high risk of getting this disease.
without a doubt, that is true.
but I was wondering... I mean, this is THAILAND we are talking about.
Yeah, and the prostitutes in that city and surrounding areas attract a lot of straight men from around the world. I think some straight men simply think it is impossible for them to get this disease. But, it happens.
city = country
...Answer: Probably the same ratio as here in the USA.
yes, it does, though not as easily as for women, and nowhere near as easily as for homosexual men.
let me clarify, delicately: normal heterosexual penetrative intercoures using the correct bits of anatomy poses a greater risk for women then men, and poses far less of a risk to either than do deviant heterosexual or normal homosexual-male practices.
For this reason, I find it hard to square the math... If they are married, and are getting the disease from their husbands, doesn't this as a corollary mean that their husbands are infected? If yes, how can their infection rate be higher than that of their husbands? Even if it is not, how could their rate of infection be "surprising" when compared to the rate of infection of their husbands?
This piece is fluff.
dude, it's THAILAND.
The percentage of ex-hookers is probably a trifle higher.
True -- but in some cultures, women are expected to be faithful but men are not. (Not sure if this describes Thailand.) Some people believe that heterosexual AIDS is a myth. It isn't. All the virus needs is a pool of promiscuous people to circulate around in, and an epidemic will happen. Ordinary vaginal intercourse will transmit the virus both ways (but the woman is more vulnerable to transmission through this route). The odds of transmission this route from a single encounter might be small, but there's something about sex that makes people do it a lot. Again, the real issue is promiscuity: if there is enough of it, an epidemic is possible.
I expect that the percentage of women explicitly engaging in prostitution is somewhat higher in Thailand than in the U.S. But I also expect that the average number of sexual partners for women who have never explicitly accepted money for sex is significantly higher in the U.S. than in Thailand. Thai society is, generally speaking, quite modest and chaste. I think Thai people in general and Thai women in particular would be dismayed to be thought of as otherwise.
I hate to sound all "you have to understand different cultures" and such, but there isn't much of a stigma attached to being a current or former prostitute in many areas of the Far East. That being said, the poor wives who get HIV from their philandering husbands is a pity. And I've read somewhere that the "Asian" strain of HIV is significantly easier to transmit via normal, heterosexual sex, than the strain more common in North America and Europe. . .
probably.
my questions, however, stand.
....well, based on your observations (probably) everyone in the US is a gun toting fat-assed druggie.
"Perception" is a funny thing. You might find it interesting how Americans (Farang) are percieved in Thailand.
not all, but a very large number are.
perceptions and "stereotypes" are funny things... despite what the PC crowd would have us believe, they can often be reasonably accurate.
"just curious: how many of these married Thai women used to be unmarried Thai whores?"
How would we know, and what does that have to do with anything?
I don't know how we would know, but a high incidence of former sex-slaves would in part explain the "surprising" incidence of HIV among these married women. I explained in an earlier post on this thread why I find the surprise a bit puzzling.
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