Help with rebuttal email!

[spangler1982]

I was wondering if you could help me with something-I’m part of an email listserv for former members of a Catholic volunteer program (which I was a member in 1998-99), and the following was posted by a girl I’ll call “Jane”:

“I realize this may be a bit provocative for some but nonetheless a significant movement amongst Catholics.

It’s the “Catholics for a Free Choice” website:

www.condoms4life.org”

I responded with the following email:

“I’d rather promote, support and contribute to programs that promote clean drinking water in developing nations as a powerful tool for for the fight against HIV/AIDS in developing countries:
lifewater.org/the_water_crisis.html
projectconcern.org/site/c.fhKOI1PGIoE/b.980771/k.28D6/El_Salvador.htm
sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060322135213.htm

Two of my favorite Catholic charity organizations that work to promote this are
The Family of the Americas: waterfiltersforthepoor.com (Latin America focus)
and Catholic Relief Services: crs.org/publications/watersanitation.cfm (Africa focus)”

Then Jane Responded with the following:

“Thanks for sharing those websites. I agree that clean water is definitely a development issue.

However, as a woman who has grown up in an environment where I have control over my own body, I feel I have an obligation to speak out for women across the world who don’t have any negotiating power with sex, even when it comes to their own husbands.

The ABC method promoted by PEPFAR is absolutely useless for women in developing countries. They abstain until marriage, are faithful to their husbands, but many of the men are not…this is proven in many parts of the world (due to economics, travel, culture). So men acquire HIV, have a high viral load with serological conversion, don’t use condoms because they aren’t accessible or are not promoted appropriately, the woman gets HIV, gets pregnant, gets tested at probably the one antenatal visit she has, finds out she’s positive, then the man blames the woman for bringing HIV into the house.

This is the story in SSA, India, etc. Another example: The majority of the population of Papua New Guinea identifies as Catholic, but there are high rates of STIs, high rates of violence, especially violence against women. Even though they identify as Catholic, they still participate in polygamous sexual practices, wih low rates of condom use. PNG has made huge strides in developing policy over the past few years, and their rates of condom use are slowly on the rise due to health promotion campaigns.

By promoting condoms I am not saying don’t have babies, and there are other issues such as greater access to ARVs for especially for women of child-bearing age (not just to protect the baby), VCCT for families (not just women) at antenatal centers, etc. If condoms were more widely accepted and promoted around the world by the Catholic church, by the US, there would be a dramatic decrease in HIV rates.

The same mistake may be repeated in SE Asia. While that region has been fuelled by injecting drug use and HIV was initially thought to be contained to that sub-group, research has shown that in Vietnam for example, there is a high rate of sex workers who engage in injecting heroin. Same formula - low condom use, and you’ll find that HIV rates are rising in the larger population in antenatal clinics and military recruits.

Another factor to consider - There are hundred of thousands of orphans in SSA and I just don’t think people really understand how sociologically devastating that is, and it will not only have an impact on this generation, but future generations.

We really take the availability of condoms in the developed world for granted. Think about what an uprising there would be if one day production stopped and there weren’t any condoms on the shelves. People wouldn’t stand for it, but somehow it’s okay in the developing world. It’s such a double standard.

While I apprciate your response, I don’t think the listserv should be used as a forum to overshadow or compete with another person’s (name removed by moderator)ut. Everyone should be able to critically examine the information for themselves with regards to development issues and HIV.

cheers,
Jane”

Can you think of any way I can respond to her? I know you’re probably very busy, but maybe you could forward this to someone else if that’s the case???

Thanks!

God Bless!

you can email it to me directly if you want.

 

[Dale_M]

women across the world who don’t have any negotiating power with sex, even when it comes to their own husbands.

The ABC method promoted by PEPFAR is absolutely useless for women in developing countries. They abstain until marriage, are faithful to their husbands, but many of the men are not…this is proven in many parts of the world (due to economics, travel, culture). So men acquire HIV, have a high viral load with serological conversion, don’t use condoms because they aren’t accessible or are not promoted appropriately

Firstly, this is a sweeping generalization and studies have shown that ABC does indeed lower pre-marital sex as well as extra-marital sex. The fact that women are more willing to follow the program than men simply points out the difficulty of designing a program that men will buy into when their culture equates sex with virility… and the need for better designed programs.

Yes, the low status and relative powerlessness of women in third world nations is considered a factor in the spread of disease. But husbands who are infected but unaware are still likely to reject the use of condoms - after all, if the wife is being faithful, what is the need for condoms? (or so the man thinks) Many studies have shown that women are often unable to negotiate for the use of condoms. This is the reason that many, if not most, HIV activists and researchers are looking to the development of an anti-microbial gel that women can apply prior to sex. There are several gels in development but all are a few years from becoming available.

Note: It seems to me that an anti-microbial gel would also be spermicidal, which would make it contraceptive. So perhaps this is not the course to recommend from a Catholic point of view.

 

[Rosalinda]

Spangler,
Education is always the key to changing human behaviour. No married man would risk death or infecting his wife with a deadly virus and leave his children orphans if he knew the truth about promiscuous sex and the unreliability of condoms. It is common sense and the natural instinct people have for both self-preservation and the protection of their offspring. Therefore, it is the misinformation campaign of condom pushers which has spread the myth that the condom is the solution par excellence for containing the AIDs crisis. The evidence suggests othewise. Wherever condoms have been made readily accessible the increase in STD’s has increased exponentially because condoms have a significant failure rate 10-15% and that figure is under ideal, controlled laboratory conditions. In the real world, where inexperience, clumsiness, carelessness, drugs and alcohol factor in these figures climb. Not to mention other external factors like condoms sitting in freezing and or boiling warehouses while awaiting shipping overseas,sub-optimal conditions which significantly degrade their quality after leaving the factory. It is inevitable they will fail. In fact, they are so dangerous a skull and cross-bones should figure prominently on every condom. Warning labels should be mandatory just as on cigarettes.

Finally, to accuse African men of unbridled sexual impulses which can not be controlled through education and self discipline is to suggest they are not capable of thoughtful, virtuous conduct like any man of character. This mindset is nothing more than racial stereotyping. Research the experience of Uganda. Google search www.LifeSiteNews.com

Fr. Euteneuer has an excellent expose:
hli.org/condom_expose.html

 

[Dale_M]

I mentioned the difficulty women in third world nations often have in negotiating condom use. Programs to raise the education and economic status of women should help protect them from the types of exploitation which makes Women More Vulnerable to HIV/AIDS

The Kaiser Network produces daily summaries of HIV/AIDS news. You might want to search their archives for additional information.

 

[Rosalinda]

Spangler1982, If you are prepared for a culture shock this Kenyan, Dr. G.S.N. Wanene has an amazing article entitled: The Good Samaritan & HIV/AIDS Victims in Africa. The gist of it is that the AIDS virus is a product of biological warfare.
Follow the 3 pages under Articles on the left menu.
[sign]Warning! this is radically different from anything you would be allowed to hear in America. [/sign]
timesunion.com/communities/prolifekenya/

 

[Rosalinda]

This article entitled, Condom Conundrum- Evidence shows Wisdom of Catholic Doctrine offers a brief overview of the Catholic viewpoint. It also references the work of Dr.Edward Green, a senior research scientist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies and a member of the President’s Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS. While he has no moral objection to condoms

Nevertheless, he raises serious doubts about the wisdom of fighting AIDS by relying on condom distribution…

Unfortunately, he added,** foreign experts only too often arrive and impose campaigns that ignore the benefits of behavioral changes, preferring to rely on distributing condoms. **

ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/zconconun.HTM