Men Make a Difference

Wirawan Dewa from Indonesia discussed an STD and HIV/AIDS behavioural intervention among taxi drivers in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. Taxi drivers were supplied with condoms and encouraged to distribute them to passengers. The study was a skill building exercise to increase awareness, reduce multi sex partners while trying to increase condom use. The exercise was also aiming for a combined form of intervention between sex workers and clients at either brothels or through the client's work place. Although the taxi drivers were very enthusiastic about participating in the study many were constrained by time or company unwillingness. Other problems arising through the project was low condom use even if distributed freely and support was not obtained from the local government or police authorities. The second speaker Po Samnang presented data from a multi national study looking at HIV prevalence and risk factors among fishermen in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. The study was a face-to-face interview type formulated to determine fishermen's risk behaviour and basic HIV knowledge. Blood samples were taken throughout the study for HIV status determination. Although there seemed to be 100 percent condom promotion there was a very high HIV infection rate suggesting a breakdown somewhere in the system. Additional strategies such as outreach activities may need to be included in other studies. This study seemed to bypass the subject of male-to-male sexual activity as most slides only indicated men having sex with female partners or sex workers.

In the two presentations on prevention work with (male) taxi drivers in Bali, Indonesia, and fishermen in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, respectively, significant increase in condom use in sex with female sex workers is shown. The fact that prevention work with female sex workers alone is not effective due to the power inequality between women and men is acknowledged. However, the men in both quantitative studies are not seen as possibly diverse in their constructions of gender and sexuality. The taxi drivers are assumed to be all clients of female sex workers or some of them as pimps, but not that they make be doing sex work themselves, or that they may have sex with other men or transgenders. The fishermen study at least tries to explore the possibility of some of them having sex with men, although no affirmative responses are obtained. Possibly the survey design of the study precludes the possibility of conducting a nuanced exploration of the subjects' sexual practices.