By looking at youth growing up in the Bronx, LeBlanc writes about how sex is almost like a currency in impoverished communities. Sex has little to no moral or intimate value. Sex is a way to get what you want. Girls sleep with guys because they need someone to but diapers for their babies or because they need help with something. Youth become sexually active as early as 10 and 11 and many young girls are getting pregnant by 16, if not younger. I was thinking a lot about my thesis while reading this book. While I was planning out my thesis, a classmate had offered up the suggestion that I look deeply at the HIV statistics in the 10458 zip code - Fordham's zip code - and dive into comparing that with the culture at Fordham. Though that is not the route that I eventually took in my thesis, reading LeBlanc's book made me do this in a less detailed way.
Often times when people talk about the prevention of HIV, they focus on a few specific ways on how to stop the spread of the virus, all of which revolve around one thing: education. Prevention education typically discusses what HIV is, how it is spread, and how to protect oneself from infection. I remember my days in East Hartford where we started talking about AIDS in 6th grade. Our education was exactly as described below: this is what it is, this is how it's spread, this is how to protect yourself. We never talked about much more than that. We never discussed condom negotiation or relationships. Most school districts around the country don't talk about more than the basic facts unless they are mandated by the state government to do so.
Prevention, though, is about more than the most basic of education. This is clear in the way that LeBlanc writes about sex in the Bronx among young people. We have to look at the culture of those who are most at risk for becoming infected with HIV if we are to really work to prevent the spread of this epidemic. It is very apparent that the basic education is not working because sex is an everyday part of life for those living in poverty - it is all around them. Think about it: a mom got pregnant at 16 and gives birth to her first child; this child grows up without being exposed to a different way of life and is very likely to get pregnant at 16 and give birth to her first child. Sex is all around - sexual abuse, casual sex, sex for money, sex for drugs. How do we take this culture and understand it to the point that we can make a significant impact on the way sex is viewed? We cannot effectively prevent the spread of HIV until the culture of life in poverty is understood, and that culture is worked with in order to educate. Not just that...education must go beyond the basics. Comprehensive sexual education is a must in all schools, especially those in communities most at risk for infection. We must talk about more than transmission! We must talk about SEX.
In my time at the Alliance of AIDS Services - Carolina, I have worked mostly with folks in their 40s and 50s. These are the clients I have established relationships with - the ones who come to the pantry the most, who I see often. Something I've noticed, though, is that many of our new clients, especially those being bridged into services, are much younger - my age. Our assistant director of prevention was talking the other day about a 19 year old female who they just diagnosed. Young people are still the age group with the highest infection rates...across the country. What can we do about it? I wonder that everyday, and I really think that Random Family gave me some deeper insight. Until we really look at poverty and the culture of those living in poverty, we are going to keep doing the same things, and those methods are not working. Sex is still seen as having little value. Fatherhood is not valued. Pregnancy is not seen as the end of the world. Life in poverty is not life in the middle class. Until we look more deeply, the cycle will continue...
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