Gender, sexual citizenship and HIV/AIDS

Abstract

An analysis of the AIDS epidemic from a gender perspective allows us to discern the impact that the cultural constructs of ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ have on HIV transmission and its effects. The cultural symbolization of sexual difference has had a profound mark on human existence. While sexual differences form the basis for a particular distribution of social roles most human activity classified as masculine or feminine is not ‘naturally’ determined by biology. Instead these classifications are socially determined through processes of gender construction. Gender constructions do not deny the existence of biological differences between the sexes but go beyond them to emphasize that these differences as such do not justify the imbalance of power and social inequality between men and women. The role of gender is perhaps best understood as a set of norms beliefs prescriptions and cultural representations that a society establishes about male and female behaviour. These vary according to historical period society and social class but always differentiate between what is expected of men and what is expected of women. (excerpt)