AIDemocracy.org | Sex and Justice

Lifting the veil, but not too far: Child soldiering in Burma

April 3, 2012 by Carly James Leave a Comment

By Carly James Unfortunately, much of the reality of child soldiering and human trafficking in Burma is unknown. Decades of forcible isolation from external media, diplomacy, tourism, etc. has alienated the country, disallowing much of the world from a deep cultural understanding of the Southeast Asian country. In January, the Burmese government and the ethnic Karen rebels committed to a cease-fire, effectively opening the country’s doors to the outside world for the first time in over sixty years. Since then, Burma’s efforts toward progress … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Sex and Justice Tagged With: AIDemocracy, Burma, child soldiers, human rights, human trafficking, kony2012

National Census Recognizes Third Gender in Nepal: So what?

March 26, 2012 by Carly James 3 Comments

National Census Recognizes Third Gender in Nepal: So what? What’s the difference between sex and gender? That’s right—think back to that obligatory biological anthropology class you took freshman year. Sex is strictly related to physiology and biology. Gender, however, refers to socially constructed ways that a given society deems appropriate for expressing one’s sexuality (i.e. through roles, behaviors, activities). This distinction, too often overlooked, is crucial to understanding the way other cultures conceptualize sexuality and gender, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Sex and Justice Tagged With: discrimination, Gay, Gender, LGBT, minorities, rights, Sexuality, Social, Stigma, Thailand, tolerance, United States

Slavery Still Exists…But You Can Stop It!

March 14, 2012 by Tiffany Leave a Comment

We want to put a spotlight on an issue that is a threat to national security, public health, and democracy -- human trafficking. Worldwide, the State Department estimated there are an astounding 12.3 million adults and children in modern-day slavery! From sexual exploitation to involuntary servitude, victims of human trafficking, particularly women and children, experience horrendous crimes and injustices on a daily basis. Trafficking fuels gender violence and the subordination of women and their rights as human beings. We, as the next generation of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Sex and Justice, Take Action Tagged With: action, campus, Congress, global health, human trafficking, women

The taboo of femidoms in South Africa

March 8, 2012 by Tiffany 1 Comment

By Carly James. South Africa has been ransacked by HIV for decades, consistently ranking as the country bearing the highest prevalence of HIV among adults in the world. Records indicate that roughly 5.6 million South Africans face the disease every day. Furthermore, statistics reveal that HIV rates among pregnant women in South Africa are significantly higher than among adults. With such a staggering rate of HIV, the southernmost country of continental Africa has been pin-pointed as a key distribution site for various forms of contraception, awareness … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Sex and Justice Tagged With: AIDS/HIV, contraception, femidoms, Feminism, sexual reproductive health, South Africa, taboo

Apartheid of Pharmacology: Priorities of the pharmaceutical industry in developing countries

March 6, 2012 by Tiffany 2 Comments

By Sofia Ahsanuddin When you think of the term, “apartheid,” what comes to mind? In his article for the 2000 edition of the French newspaper, “Le Monde Diplomatique,” Martine Bulard uses the term apartheid to refer to the unjust policies and practices of the pharmaceutical industry in developing nations. He provides ample evidence to support his claim that many international pharmaceutical companies have not only refused to produce essential drugs because there were no “guarantees of a return on an investment,” but have also engaged in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Sex and Justice Tagged With: developing countries, disease, drug research, drug-dumping, drugs, pharmaceuticals

Arrested Development… Whose Fault?

February 27, 2012 by Cory Rodgers Leave a Comment

Since the New Year, I've spent quite a few evenings talking with young Tanzanian men about... well... lot's of stuff. Initially, I was the instigator for most of issues we discussed: Why do so many of the students drop out before completing secondary school? Why aren't people in the city taking advantage of urban farming? Why are so many people here late for meetings? What did I learn? For one, foreign aid and international development experts definitely did NOT construct their theories in collaboration with Tanzanian students. According to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Sex and Justice

Can your school host a “V-Day movement” to end violence against women and girls?

February 27, 2012 by William Tsang 1 Comment

"V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM), and sex slavery." -Vday.org Founded by Eve Ensler after the success of her solo show “The Vagina Monologues”, she used the show as well as other plays she has written … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Sex and Justice, Take Action Tagged With: action, advocacy, campus, community, Sexual Violence, v-day, vagina monologues, violence against women, women

Discrimination and stigma in healthcare for gay and bisexual men in parts of Africa

February 17, 2012 by Tiffany 2 Comments

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8008170.stm

By Billy Tsang Much of Africa’s leadership has and continues to see HIV as a heterosexual epidemic. This is not surprising, as most of Africa still deems homosexuality as illegal and punishable by law. Lane (2008) expresses that even in post-apartheid South Africa, the “only African nation with legal guarantees of equal rights for gay and lesbian citizens and highly visible gay and lesbian communities”, there has been little attention given to the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men (MSM). Academic literature has widely … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Sex and Justice Tagged With: Africa, AIDS, discrimination, Gay RIghts, healthcare, HIV, HIV/AIDS, Homophobia, Men, MSM, Research, Sexuality, Social, Stigma

Transformative Reform Needed for Healthcare Education: The HIFA2015 Campaign May Be an Answer

February 15, 2012 by Tiffany 2 Comments

http://borgenproject.blogspot.com/2011/10/ugandan-midwifes-mission-to-save-lives.html

By Sofia Ahsanuddin Nursing and midwife education plays a pivotal role in developing an innovative and transformative approach to sustainable healthcare. In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) drew attention to a critical shortage of more than 4 million doctors, nurses, and midwives worldwide. In 2010, a report issued by a high-level Commission on Education of Health Professionals and the Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study stated a mind-blowing statistic about the mentioned shortage of trained health professionals; between 1985 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Sex and Justice Tagged With: healthcare, HIFA2015, maternal health, Midwife, Nusing, reform, Sub-Saharan Africa

Understanding the Rights of the Marginalized: Haiti’s LGBT Community

February 13, 2012 by Tiffany Leave a Comment

By Carly James In the wake of the second anniversary of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, much of the world is directing its attention to the social, economic, and political progress that Haiti has made. Since that historic moment in Haiti’s troubled history, considerable strides have been made in terms of rubble removal, medical assistance, and resettlement of displaced persons. In fact, the country was proud to inaugurate the ultra-modern Roi Henri Christophe University, currently one of Haiti’s largest buildings, in mid-January. Secretary … [Read more...]