Letters to the Editor
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this sort of reminds me of the abstinence only crowd: if no one has sex no one will get AIDS
and it is undoubtedly true that if women have more power MOST men will have less sex.
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Woman Power = Less Male Sex
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that if women had more power, they would be less likely to be forced to sell their bodies for basic survival. Men might have less random sex or less sex with unwilling women. That's the part of the equation that will slow the spread of AIDS. That's not a bad thing.
More rights for women might result in fewer women being raped by armies as a show of "power." Men in some developing countries might feel less entitled to have multiple sex partners while demanding monogamy from their female partner. Women might feel entitled to demand a man used a condom or even--gasp!--say no to sex if the man is a jerk. Nope, I can't find a thing wrong with this idea!
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Statistic
Since when do women make up 75% of African HIV/AIDS cases? Women do make up the majority, but the figure is more like 54%.
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As if!
"Gender equality is good for more than just shutting up us tiresome feminists"
If only that were true.
Even in situations where men and women are treated basically alike, the typical feminist reaction is to complain that women's special needs are being callously ignored. An obvious problem with having a grievance-based identity is that the manufacture of grievances can never end.
And as for the quip "us tiresome feminists", it nicely captures Broadsheet's usual custom of repeating truthful statements in a sarcastic voice, does it not?
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full stat
From the Ny Times article the entire statistic is:
"Almost 25 million Africans are infected with the HIV virus, giving the continent the worst AIDS burden in the world. Women make up 75 percent of HIV-positive Africans aged between 15-25."
The source of the number is not annotated anywhere in the original article, but the age qualification gives a little more information. It does not seem to include people that died of AIDS or AIDS related illnesses(do men die at a higher rate than women?) 75% is still a lot higher than I expected. Does anyone else have info on that number?