[lbo-talk] AIDS, being an African prole and "denial"....

[Mike Ballard]

In the South African mining sector, for example, a
group of psychologists recently established that the
norm of “masculinity” (expressed through soliciting
prostitutes) in South African “culture” increases the
risk of HIV transmission among miners [32]. To locate
“culture” as the problem is to ignore the perspectives
of the miners themselves (who, in fact, are from a
variety of different locations as distinct as rural
Malawi and central Soweto). As one miner put it:
“Every time you go underground you have to wear a lamp
on your head. Once you take on that lamp you know that
you are wearing death. Where you are going you are not
sure whether you will come back to the surface alive
or dead. It is only with luck if you come to the
surface still alive because everyday somebody gets
injured or dies”. [32] 
In the context of a 42% injury rate, it would be
natural to think that catching a disease that could
kill you ten years down the road might be less
pressing than trying to gain some control over
life--or perhaps even enjoying life in some minor way
(through alcohol or sex) before getting crushed by
falling rock. But the psychologists who quoted this
miner (and published their analysis in a top-ranked
medical journal) labelled him “in denial,” and claimed
that his “low self-esteem” was the cause of his
increased risk for HIV infection [32]. A similar
survey among prostitutes labelled them “liars” (in
“denial” of their agency) when they attributed their
prostitution to lack of education and job
opportunities and to coercion [25].

--http://www.southcentre.org/info/southbulletin/bulletin62/bulletin62-07.htm

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‘My other piece of advice, Copperfield,’ 
said Mr. Micawber, ‘you know. Annual income 
twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and 
six, result happiness. Annual income twenty 
pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds 
ought and six, result misery. The blossom is 
blighted, the leaf is withered, the god of day 
goes down upon the dreary scene, 
and — and in short you are for ever floored. As I am!’

Charles Dickens' DAVID COPPERFIELD

http://profiles.yahoo.com/swillsqueal

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