Men vs. Women

[kippurbird]

Listening to NPR on the way to work.

They had a piece on trying to prevent AIDS in women in poor countries like in the African continent. As the men won't wear condoms generally they were focusing on pills and a vaginal gel for the women.

One of the researchers said that the gel wasn't a good option because there was all this "waste" to go with it, the applicant, the packaging etc. And so when it was thrown away everyone would know they had sex and it would be embarrassing for the woman.

The researcher? Was a man.

The female researcher and the women she talked to thought he was an idiot.

Which goes to show you, once again, that men probably should stay out of women's health issues.

Comments

[thelittlebudgie.livejournal.com]

So basically, he's saying "It'd be embarrassing for me, but I can't say that, so I'm going to say that it'd be embarrassing for the women to make me look more supportive."

Anyway, I'd rather be embarrassed then have AIDS.

[krazykat.livejournal.com]

Better a bit of embarrassment than AIDS...

I have some guy friends who get offended when I tell them to butt out of certain women's issues, but really it's for reasons like this that I say that...

[vytresna.livejournal.com]

Really, I'd say guys have as much right to talk about women's issues as, say, someone from the suburbs has the right to talk about inner-city issues, or someone from America has the right to talk about English politics. It's just that this particular guy is a complete idiot.

[yetanotherbob.livejournal.com]

Which goes to show you, once again, that men probably should stay out of women's health issues.

I'd say it was less an issue of the male being a male and more of him being a dumbass. Okay, the male part factors heavily into it, yes, but I wouldn't want to exclude those with brains that happen to be male, as well. That and it's not only a woman's issue: it's an issue caused by the men being dumbasses in the country. (Especially the really insane belief held in how to 'cure' aids)

[arial-vs-lotus.livejournal.com]

With anything about the gender divide, the best cure is Edu-ma-cation. Men and women need to be bloody educated about it, without cultural baggage, and then perhaps discussions wouldn't devolve into stupidity.

[thelastmehina.livejournal.com]

I have an entirely different take on it.

The hypothetical African woman doesn't need to be "protected" from being embarrassed. What she needs is for the option to nevertheless be made available to her, so she can decide for herself if it's more important for her to risk AIDS or embarrassment.

If it's really that important to hide the evidence, they can do what my hyper-neurotic ex used to do (the one who pretended not to see me at Watchmen!). He was way more embarrassed about sex than I was, and he was convinced his dorm-mates had a deep and abiding interest in his sex life and would do Dire Things if they found out he was getting nookie. So used condoms & wrappers would get wrapped up in about ten feet of toilet paper and then stuffed into some other bit of litter (like an empty food box) before being put in the trash can. So if African women really are embarrassed, I'm sure they can find a nice, discreet way to get rid of the trash.

And they still won't have AIDS! Everyone wins!

[mad-troll.livejournal.com]

Well, if by "be embarrassing for the woman" he meant something like "a gazillion of people will start throwing stones at her because she is a filthy whore" I could kind of see his point.

Still, it just means that you need to educate that gazillion of really dumb & rabid people while ensuring that women get all their safety options.
Ostrich tactics tend to not work..

[emily-goddess.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose he actually asked any African women if they'd be embarrassed, did he? I'd be surprised if he had.

[(Anonymous)]

And vice versa...?