Wa'n Wina

Why is “because it’s their culture” not a sufficient explanation for the reasons why HIV/AIDS has spread in Phiri?

The term “their culture” refers to the African culture created during the age of exploration and colonialism. In relation to HIV/AIDS, the behaviours that lead to the prevalence of the disease amongst African people are symptomatic of their culture. The behaviours include sexual promiscuity and a refusal to use condoms, lack of education and a good understanding of the disease because they are not as smart as their European counterparts . However, culture alone does not form the basis of the explanation for the reasons why HIV/AIDS has spread in Phiri. The acknowledgement of power dynamics highlights the impact of diminished socio-economic conditions in Africa, as shown by the poor living conditions of the people in Phiri. Patton (1990) reveals how the medical research sector itself is ridden with the politics of power where more money is spent in the First World, than in the Third World. The power dynamic thus extends to the knowledgeable while compromising the information to the poorer sectors of the society. This demonstrates how the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa, and Phiri especially, is not essentially linked to culture, but finds its basis in socio-economic factors.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki displayed what is commonly considered as African culture through his denialism of the seriousness of the disease, he also made a distinction between AIDS found in Africa to that found in Europe and North America. His comments played in to the stereotype of Africans as less intelligent and lazy, clinging to the frivolous nature of their outdated and traditional cultures that reject the truth of science . Many of these characteristics that shape external views of African culture exist throughout the rest of the World. Many people in the North America still engage in sexual intercourse without condoms , denialism also exists in Brazil where people feel that if they do not engage in the practices that are associated with HIV/AIDS they face less of a risk contracting it . The idea that different types of the disease exist originated in Northern America where they felt that the disease only existed amongst homosexual men who practiced anal intercourse and drug addicts who used dirty needles while heterosexual AIDS existed in Africa. Heterosexual men in North America who had contracted the disease did so through anal intercourse with prostitutes . It is believed that African men are highly promiscuous and never live up to their responsibilities but this is something that occurs with men globally. Men are held to a different standard than women and have more freedom to move around sexually . Thus, these stereotypically African cultural characteristics are actually universal traits and therefore the prevalence of the virus in Africa cannot be explained through the colonialist ideas of African culture.

To explain the reasons for the prevalence in South Africa more specifically one needs to look at structural reasons that stem from the apartheid system, which put in place a system of oppression, based upon race. Oppression led to poverty and once entrapped in that system it is difficult to move out of it . In the film, we see that quite a number of men and women are unemployed but it is the women who are affected the most. Many teenage girls have babies and are dependent on their parents for financial support. The boyfriends of these girls convince them to have unprotected sex by saying things like “girls who use condoms are promiscuous”. Other girls engage in unprotected sex because they trust their boyfriends but once they fall pregnant, it is seen that the men responsible leave them. Because of the desperate situation regarding poverty and unemployment in the community, these girls will do whatever it takes to keep their boyfriends, as they will be their most likely source of financial support. As Phumla (in the film) said, she has a baby; she and her mother do not work; only her father does. They thus become reliant upon men, embedding the idea that women need men to survive. This power dynamic oppresses woman and empowers men. Men are thus given leeway to continue with irresponsible behaviour.

The poverty in the community extends to education as well. In the film, we see Phumla teaching the class because the teacher did not show up to work that day. The level of education offered to these children is not of a high standard and it seems as though sexual education is a problem area . One of the woman interviewed stated that she learnt about sex when her boyfriend opened her thighs and penetrated her for the first time. The lack of education is a vital cause in the spread of the disease in this community ., and also attributes to the large possibility of females in the community being abused by “more knowledgeable” men. Young girls can be easily influenced into doing things that, with the basic sexual education, they might otherwise not do. Throughout the film, we see that the topic of sex is a taboo issue unless it is spoken about in a humorous manner. The failure to deal vocally with the issue of HIV/AIDS will only lead to further infections.

“Because it is their culture” is therefore not a sufficient explanation for the reasons why HIV/AIDS has spread in Phiri. The term “culture” needs to be critically examined before determining it as the cause for the increased spread of HIV/AIDS. It is a problematic term that has inherent power dynamics as it has the ability to other difference, instead of acknowledging the values within diversity. It also ignores the power dynamics caused by history, systems of power in politics and the unequal distribution of resources within societies. The underlying cause of the spread of HIV/AIDS in Phiri is thus not solely linked to the “culture” of the people, that is, the culture denoted as “African” through colonial definition. Structural implications are the result. Economic issues can be seen as the root of many of the causes of the prevalence of the disease in South Africa rather than the supposed “African culture” .








How would you explain the dynamics portrayed in the film without resorting to stigmatising resources?

The behaviour of individuals in Wa’n Wina may be explained through using the lenses of gender, moral values, class and peer pressure. The film is a raw image of the various struggles of humanity with further emphasis on culture, gender, sexuality and HIV/ AIDS. All of these differences are interrelated and are the basis for stigmatizing discourse. However, this film is both informative and constructive. It seeks to define the reason behind difference as it exists in this context.

To begin, class determines interaction among the youth. Dumisani’s unemployed friends fail to establish any kind of relationships with girls that are in any way a higher class than them, for example, they all state that they do not approach girls that enter beauty contests as they cannot “afford” them. They are afraid to be judged by the way they dress; they cannot take these types of girls to the movies and give them the ‘nice’ things they expect. The result is a preference for girls that are ‘easy’ to entertain, for example they prefer a class of girls that smoke, drink and “like things”. When regarding the classes within Phiri it is also important to look at the overall spectrum whereby all the people living in this area should be recognised as those living in the lower classes of South African society. The fundamental difference between blacks and whites in South Africa has maintained a set of complex constructions of the lower class blacks in Phiri. This is linked to the sexuality constructions that identify HIV/AIDS as a disease of sexuality. A father in the film says that “when growing up he never had control of his life, it’s a white men’s country, not our country, and we left our way of life and came to this place”.

A further dynamic portrayed in the film is one of morality. Moral values influence the attitude towards sex, and ultimately the spread of the disease. In the local school, moral values become a means to educate school children on what is right and wrong. An example can be noted from the school assembly: the headmistress insists that although some school children may consider prostitution as a means of earning money, it is an act of immorality as God says sex before marriage is wrong. The behaviour of the youth portrayed in the film can also be attributed to peer-pressure. One of the reasons why a lot of the youth become sexually active while early is that they are pressured by their boyfriends; one male in the film says that girls “should show them that they love them, its normal”, and this love is equated to sex. In addition to this, in schools and around the community, the youth claim that you cannot be 19 and still be a virgin; the only virgins are in the rural areas. This creates a feeling of exclusion if one has not yet had sex. This perception results in individuals engaging in sex to fit in with this ‘norm’.

The general dynamic between men and women as portrayed in the film is like a game. “sometimes it feels like a dream and you wake up in the morning it will all be over. Then sometimes it feels like a game. girls playing boys, boys playing girls.” The people are already living through hardship and as a result there seems to be negative energy surrounding both femininity and masculinity that hold everyone back from finding happiness within the family structure. The pressures of life are too difficult and to top it all off there is a deadly disease that has made its way into the lives of many and this disease is aquired through sexual relations. The spread of AIDS puts a greater amount of responsibility on men to be faithful. If there is trust in a relationship then there is no reason a condom should be worn. Therefore he is faced with the decistion to either admit to being unfaithful, or giving his partner AIDS. The risk of AIDS spreading falls on the dynamic of the relationship between men and women. One woman explained that “I don’t wear condoms. I trust my man.” Condom use is something shunned, and Patton notes this as he expresses the example of the way it is assumed that Africans do not use condoms and that they have poor medical care which results in them not being able to diagnose AIDS (Patton, C. 1990: 78). A woman is also shown to state that “When you love someone you forget there is AIDS, and you fight for your man”; showing how the risk of rejection has more of an impact on the women in Phiri than does the fight against HIV/AIDS. This is a gender dynamic that puts more people at risk when it comes to contracting the disease.

The behavior of men that fail to maintain their families or the behaviour of neglecting their parental responsibilities can be explained through looking at the dynamics of gender. A lot of responsibility is placed on the girl for falling pregnant “as if they impregnated themselves” rather than both the boy and the girl; this creates a sense of detachment towards parenting. Men engage in extra-marital affairs and neglect their responsibilities of caring of their children. This becomes a burden on the girl, which sometimes, as in Phumla’s case, results in a dependence on alcohol for relief. Phumla, young mother whose boyfriend abandoned her, is unemployed and emphasises that she is continually stressed. Her resolve is that she would rather commit to alcohol than to a man as alcohol will not cheat on her. In the local community, within families, the application of double standards on young girls and boys results in boys being allowed to spend the night out, while girls are subjected to a curfew. No one will say anything if a boy misbehaves, but a female child is discriminated against if she does not follow the rules set by society. Phumla expresses this imbalance by saying that -she feels inferior as a woman she says how she now behaves like a boy she says “it’s nice to be a boy, if I can I can cut off my breasts, if you are a boy no one comments”.

Within this context, the roles of men and women change with regards to circumstances. The male perspective reveals the pressures of masculinity as an excuse for abandonment and a craving to do nothing because they have nothing. In the essence of power, the men resort to their inevitable control over women as “the weaker sex” and their desire to feel something. Love scares them for fear of not living up to the stigma of masculinity which requires a family and the ability to take care of them. In this context masculinity is defined by suffering and the general inability to be loved because in doing so they are setting themselves up for failure. Many men, like Timothy (in the film), feel the need to run away because “She loves me too much.” On the flipside, the women are left to be the backbone of family. Mothers and Grandmothers are left with the responsibility of taking care of the children in the absence of men. Some continue to believe in men, while others have given up.

Few people in the film have found true love and trust in their men, and many ignore the reality. “Not all men are bad. But they do tend to get away with everything. What is the alternative? It happens; you just have to trust that yours won’t”. Like anywhere in the world, not all men think the same. The film did an excellent job at illustrating various types of masculinity. The two brothers could not portray more different depictions of masculinity. One is a sex addicted while the other is working to uphold an AIDS support group. The differences become clear when they are all gathered together talking about what it means to be a man:

“Being a man is about suffering. We have nothing, so what do we have to give? Nothing.”
“Some people say you’re not a man until you go to prison and feel what other men are capable of.”
“Being a man in the township is about bringing home the groceries whether you are married or not.”
“Being a man is not about suffering. We are the ones who rape and refuse to wear condoms.”

There is much conflict in the notion of masculinity and it is rooted in how men and women deal with their reality. It is almost impossible to stigmatize within this context because ones masculinity and femininity is a product of their own morals and values in enduring the hardships of life in the township. Phiri is a place that is not by any means considered their own. “This is not our country. We left our way of life and came to this place.” Some men love and are faithful, some are promiscuous. Some men are employed while many are not. Some women are afraid to ever love again, while others are in denial, holding on to the idea of love for dear life. Some women trust while others do not. This film is a beautifully woven depiction of how these people deal with difference in the belly of oppression.

One would need to let go of their immediate judgment and the ability to fall back on stigmas as a means of both understanding and justifying the different dynamics portrayed in the film. It is important to observe the reality of life in this community and the effect that it has on their own social construction outside of typical stigmatic discourse. This film explores HIV/AIDS as a by-product of the struggles of masculinity, femininity as well as sexuality specific to this cultural context. Within this culture people have little to nothing to call their own, including access to healthcare, information, education and services. An example of this is shown in the scene when an old woman is seen scrimmaging for coal in the rubbish bins so that she might be able to reuse it. They are marginalized within the greater society and cut off from many of the opportunities that allow them to fulfil stigmatized gender roles. Therefore it is essential to move outside of those discourses in critically analyzing the dynamics of this film.












BIBLIOGRAPHY
Coleman, L. M. (1997). In Davis, L. J. The Disability Studies Reader. New York, Routledge.

Parker, R (1999). “Within four walls”: Brazillian sexual culture and HIV/AIDS. In R. Parker & P. Aggleton (Eds.). Culture, society and sexuality: A reader. London: Routledge. 253-266.

Patton, C (1990), Inventing Aids, Routledge, New York

Posel, D (2008) “AIDS” in N. Shepherd & S. Robins “New South African Key Words” Ohio Univ. Press. USA & Jacana Media (PTY) Ltd. South Africa.