Comics teach chauvinistic Indian men about safe sex

n AIDS awareness group in male-dominated India is touting a new, colourful way to dispel chauvinistic notions about sex: comic books.

Population Council, an international voluntary group, is distributing 250,000 copies of comics among residents of shanty towns in four cities to help change social attitudes and stress the dangers of unsafe sexual practices.

"Many Indian men think it is cool to be violent and forceful with women, and that women who answer back are loose and therefore need controlling," said Vijaya Nidadavolu, Population Council's communications director.
"The idea is to make them aware of alternative gender norms that in turn might make them more equitable and thereby indulge in safer sexual practices," she told Reuters.

Domestic violence is common in India. According to U.N. figures, more than two-thirds of married females aged 15 to 49 years are victims of beating, rape or forced sex.

Experts say social attitudes and traditional ideas about masculinity make men behave in ways that open them and their partners to risk of sexual diseases.

Dispelling these chauvinistic notions is crucial in the fight against AIDS in a country which has an estimated 5.7 million HIV cases, the highest in the world.

In one comic book, a young man refuses to donate blood as he realises his past actions may have exposed him to HIV risk. Instead, he decides to get a test done.

In another, a young man turns violent towards his lover when she suggests that they use a condom because "a good girl" would not advocate protection.

The comics, the size of pocketbooks, are aimed at males aged between 15 and 24 and are designed not to look like the teaching materials normally produced by voluntary groups.

They have titles like "A Drop of Blood", "Senior Beware" and "A Packet of Love" and are available for free in Hindi, Bengali, Telugu and Urdu languages besides a limited edition in English.

They are being distributed in the slums of Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata as well as at video game parlours, Internet cafes and other youth hangouts in these cities.

"They have the advantage of visual communication combined with the written, so they have entertainment value," Nidadavolu said.

"Plus comic books are easy to carry and hide -- we find that given the stigma around HIV it is quite useful to have materials that people can conceal."