Framing Knowledge, Forming Behaviour; Ghanaian Women’s AIDS-Protection Strategies
),
(1) Development and Women’s Studies Programme (DAWS), Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon
Corresponding Author
Abstract
This paper relies on data from face-to-face interviews among Ghanaian (female) Sex Workers, and unmarried women (who are not sex workers)to examine how the promotion of sexual health behaviour, or lack thereof, is related to beliefs about AIDS causation and prevention, and a sense of personal risk. Specifically, the paper focuses on why some women have adopted the use of condoms and others have not. Important in this particular analysis is the economic basis of women’s sexual relations, and how this affects their ability to negotiate for ‘safer sex’ practices. The findings indicate that ‘knowledge’ has more potency for some women than others, and that this ‘potency’ is socially defined through asymmetrical relations. (Afr I Rep rod Health 1998; 2(2): 151—174).
KEY WORDS: AIDS-knowledge, AIDS-information, safer sex, condom use, women’s HIV-vulnerability, sex workers, single women, male role
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