desire

Tsitsi Masvawure of South Africa emphasized that, contrary to what we often see through media representation, the sexuality of young African women is not always subordinate, disinterested or reluctant; that acknowledging that some women actively seek out sex, HIV infection must be looked at in the context of pleasure, rather than danger.

Speakers on the panel, called Reproductive Health: Sexuality, Fertility and Desire, lamented that current prevention programs for women tend to focus on women as victims rather than as agents of their own pleasure. Wendy Knerr, of the Pleasure Project (U.K.), noted that current sex education is fear-based and sex-negative. The Pleasure Project is working to promote sexual health rights through the context of pleasure, and to make sex education more sex positive. Among other programs, the PP works with erotic filmmakers to help them include male and female condoms visibly in their films.  read more »