This theme explored the ways in which different cultural, social political, legal and economic institutions influence gender, sexuality and the risk of HIV. The program also looked at the ways in which gender and sexuality impact on treatment, care and support. A particular focus of this theme was exploring how social institutions act to increase or reduce different forms of gender and sexual violence, whether it is physical, verbal or psychological. The program addresses how gender relations and norms relating to sexuality impact on the risk of rape, sexual forcing, domestic violence, forced sexual labour; how violence directed at gender relations and sexuality through "silences" around its practices; how fear reinforces these silences and makes invisible this violence; how we begin to breakdown these silences and create safes and more open gender relationships and how we ensure that sexuality with all its diversities can be practiced in safety?

Sessions

Plenary Session Meet the Expert: Gender and Sexuality HIV/AIDS and Sexual Health Education in Asia Pacific Schools: Panel Discussion "The Blue Note" By Jane Palomountain Children and Sex Work Gender Constructs and Women's Vulnerability to HIV Identity and Men Who Have Sex with Men Reducing HIV Vulnerability among Rural and Island Women in Asia and the Pacific

Sex Work: Using Peer Education to Prevent Infection and Violence   Talking to Youth About Sex   Women and Sexual and Reproductive Health   Stigma and Discrimination: A Situational Analysis   Pleasure and Safety: The Issues at Stake   Targeting Prevention for Men Who Have Sex With Men Through Social Sites   Violence and Vulnerability   Vulnerability: The Role of Gender Definitions and Perceptions