Love and sex in glossy colours
Education and entertainment in one keeps the interest of the school children
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10. March 2006
Can information about HIV and AIDS really be funny and entertaining? Maybe you wouldn't think so but it is what they think at Femina Hip in Tanzania. It is a glossy and hip magazine dealing with the issues of love and sex - safe sex that is. ”Our way of informing is called edutainment, a contraction of education and entertainment,” Minou Fuglsang says. She is the project coordinator on Femina Hip and has been working on the magazine since it started in 1999. ”We try to use identification and have young people communicate and reach out to others in a popular media,” she adds. And the magazine is a success. 92,000 copies are distributed in various schools all over Tanzania. ”There is no sex education in the schools today and HIV and AIDS are still taboo subjects. This makes our work necessary, since we target the next generation,” Minou Fuglsang says. She thinks that the community needs to be flooded with information to stop all the myths about HIV and AIDS.
To engage the readers of Femina Hip magazine, they are asked to form their own Femina clubs at their schools. Here they can discuss the contents of the magazine - preferably with one of their teachers. ”We also suggest the clubs visit their local health clinics and help HIV-infected people in their area. This is also about empowering the readers and getting them to know their rights and potential. For example, many young people do not know about their right to get HIV tests and pregnancy tests at local health clinics,” Minou Fuglsang says.
Some examples of Femina Hip's direct way of communicating the message:
Myths and facts about HIV and AIDS
Myth: A girl that has not started puberty cannot get infected with HIV
Fact: Actually girls in that stage are even more vulnerable to infection. Their genitals are weak and can easily get damaged during sexual intercourse. This increases the risk of HIV infection.
Myth: If you practise anal sex without a condom you cannot get infected with HIV since there is no secretion of fluids like in the vagina of a woman
Fact: Yes you can. The skin in the rectum is quite fragile and can easily become damaged during anal sex. HIV is found in semen and not only in vaginal fluids. Use a condom for all kinds of sex.
Myth: Sex with a virgin can cure you from HIV and AIDS
Fact: This is not true. If you get infected with the HIV virus there is no cure! In addition, if you carry a sexually transmitted disease you endanger the health and life of the virgin, if you have unprotected sexual intercourse together.
Myth: Male sperm can pass through a condom
Fact: Sperm cannot pass through the condom. Condoms are produced in order to prevent sperm from reaching the vagina when having sexual intercourse.
Some people say that there are small holes in the condoms which sperms and micro-organisms causing sexually transmitted diseases can pass through, but this is not true.
