After months of accusations of violent mistreatment towards women by Amnesty International, a senior general in the Egyptian military confirmed to the American media earlier this week that virginity tests had been performed during protests in Tahrir Square earlier this week.

The reasoning given for performing these tests? The military wanted to protect itself from accusations of sexual assault or rape during the revolution by proving that the female protesters weren’t virgins in the first place.

Saying that these women “were not like your daughter or mine. These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters” would be a shocking statement in most areas of the Western world. However, as the Christian Science Monitor points out, it is more than typical of the Egyptian mindset towards women:

“The anonymous general’s words reveal a frightening but not surprising attitude for people who know Egypt. His suggestion that if they weren’t virgins then they couldn’t be the victims of rape is telling, as is his implication that “nice” girls wouldn’t be treated that way. Many Egyptians are deeply conservative about the role of women in society, and would share his views that it wasn’t appropriate for women to be present at mixed protests in the first place.” June 1, 2011

In truth, virginity tests are an all too common practice in Egypt, as they are in many areas of the Middle East. Many brides seek hymenoplasty, or hymen restoration, to ensure that their reputation is protected come wedding night.

While for many Egyptians, the fall of the regime of Mubarak signaled a new beginning for Egypt, it does not appear as though much will change for the country’s female population. Women, who faced years of abuse and discrimination during Mubarak’s reign, rejoiced at the idea of more equality between the sexes. However, the military has indicated that they intend to restrict women’s power in government even more intensely. The military council that is ruling the country before it is prepared to take to the ballot box has entirely excluded women from the constitutional committee that is essentially developing an entirely new political process. Furthermore, one of the gains over the past few decades in Egypt, the advent of constitutional quotas holding seats for women in the lower house of parliament, may be eliminated.

It appears that the hopes that the Egyptian protestors had for themselves as they stood for weeks in Tahrir Square may be denied to half of the population, as the ruling military seems intent to take two steps backwards instead of forward. While the protestors stood for liberty and equality after years of denied freedom on the part of the government, women will have to settle for only liberty, and potentially not even liberty at all. The treatment of women during the protests – including not only subjection to virginity tests, but also electrocution and other forms of torture, has sent a clear message to Egyptian women from the new ruling powers, as described by the Christian Science Monitor: ‘“We will physically violate you and call you whores if you life up your voices. And we’ll get away with it”’.

That is something that must be protested, and must be changed.

 Can a TV show cross boundaries and change perceptions? Can it spark discussions and erase stereotypes? Most importantly, can it stop the spread of AIDS?

The impact of a MTV show in three developing countries demonstrates that the answer to all of three of these questions is a resounding “yes”.

In 2010, MTV created the Ignite Campaign in partnership with UNICEF as part of MTV’s larger HIV/AIDS Campaign called Staying Alive. MTV used what it knows best – gripping TV dramas that spark conversation (The Hills, anyone?) – to start a dialogue around HIV/AIDS in three countries: Zambia, Kenya, and Trinidad and Tobago. In the words of the producers, these dramas “will take a microscopic lens into the lives of young people who could be you, your best friends, your cousins or just random people you want to invite into your homes. You’ll love them, you’ll hate them, and you’ll want to see how their stories end”.

All dramas were locally shot and produced, featuring actors from the target countries. In the words of one MTV executive, the messages are almost “subliminal”. Shuga, the title of the drama broadcast in Kenya and Zambia, tells the story of a group of young in people living in Nairobi. The three-part drama addresses HIV/AIDS from all facets, using complex characters and relationships to tackle stigma, safe sex, and testing within the realities of modern life. The characters party, get drunk, and have sex, but they are anything from one-dimensional. The main character, that has a devoted boyfriend, is mistrustful of men after her father left her, her mother, and her sister. The “top dog”, who drives fast cars and constantly drops money on cigars and alcohol, lost his wife to pneumonia, leaving him with a daughter with whom he unable to bond. Another girl, who lost a close family member to AIDS, is committed to remaining a virgin until she meets the right man. A playboy who has slept with a string of girls must face reality. A character that is HIV-positive pretends to be a virgin in order to protect her secret. In the last episode, one character grapples with his fear of getting tested for HIV after having unprotected sex, and all of the characters learn what it means to live positively.

The reach and impact of Shuga has been staggering. The campaign reached 64% of youth in Kenya, while the MTV-produced dramas in Trinidad and Tobago and Zambia reached 8% and 4% of youth, respectively - more typical numbers for a TV show. All young people who had seen the show could identify its main issues and lessons. 50% reported that they had talked about the show with someone else, including family members and acquaintances. 90% of Kenyan viewers said Shuga had an impact on their thinking – 84% of participants said it changed their thinking on having multiple sexual partners, 85% on HIV testing, and 87% on people living with HIV/AIDS. They also reported an increased likelihood of getting an HIV test after watching the drama. Teens in Trinidad and Tobago reported a more positive attitude towards PLWHA and a more negative attitude towards multiple partners based “on how much they liked the show” and how realistically the show depicted relationships.

The show worked because it wasn’t simply a show – it was a reflection of daily life for thousands of teens. The teens saw themselves in the characters. Even I, as an American, saw traits of my friends and myself in the characters despite our lack of common background. The gripping nature of the drama created water-cooler talk that changed perceptions and influenced thinking, and not in the artificial way that many American dramas do (as in, “You know, I really want a pair of gladiator sandals after Hanna wore them on Pretty Little Liars last night”). The drama spoke to an audience that was first drawn to the plot, and then heard and understood the messages. (Click here to see a video from CNN about Shuga).

Given the spread of technology to countries worldwide, how can technology be used to spread information about HIV/AIDS? Are TV shows the best way to change perceptions? MTV used character blogs and community boards on a website devoted to Shuga to spark conversation – how can Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites be used in the same manner?

At the end of February, I had the amazing experience of attending the 55th Meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations Headquarters in New York with Advocates for Youth. The sessions I attended covered many different issues, from comprehensive sex education to violence against women to education of young women. However, from three days that I spent at CSW, one memory stands clear: people do not understand emergency contraception.

It happened more than once – representatives from different NGOs, in the United States and abroad, called emergency contraception (EC) “the abortion pill”. One particular participant launched into a description of what happened after her friend took the pill, including the torrents of blood that spilled out of her and the death of the fetus. However, we know that emergency contraception does nothing to a pregnancy that has already begun. If the egg has implanted in the uterus, taking those two pills will do absolutely nothing. There will be no flood of blood, because there is nothing in there to expunge. The biggest side effect that a girl may have is short-term vomiting – something that almost any medication can cause.

It is well-known that there have been countless struggles over EC, both domestically and internationally. The makers of Plan B, a common brand of EC, as well as several advocacy organizations (including Planned Parenthood) lobbied for several years to get emergency contraception available over-the-counter in U.S. pharmacies (the FDA finally approved this type of sale for women over 17 in 2006). Thanks to the work of organizations around the world, EC is now available in 140 countries worldwide. However, work still needs to be done. The Chilean government used to provide EC to girls over 14 free of charge, until a court declared in 2008 that it was unconstitutional. This video shows more.

 Even though it is now widely available in the developed and developing world, youth – who need EC the most - face the most barriers to obtaining it. 15-30% of sexually active girls in developing countries report that their first sexual encounter was coerced or forced. Half of all sexual assaults globally are against girls younger than 15. In Brazil, 58% of currently pregnant women say their pregnancies are mistimed or unwanted. 4.4 million females between the ages of 15 to 19 have abortions every year.

Adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 are two times more likely to die during childbirth than older mothers. Mothers under the age of 14 are five times more likely to die. Young mothers are often more likely to suffer from obstructed labor because their bodies are not prepared for childbirth. Obstructed labor, if not properly treated – and it is often not treated in developing countries – often leads to the death of the infant and the mother. The babies of teenage mothers are more likely to have a low birth weight, be born prematurely, or die. Young mothers are also less likely to complete their schooling, and are often ostracized by their communities.

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I’d heard of it, but I’d never actually seen of it. I thought it was about women going through menopause, which seemed pretty out of place on a college campus. So when I saw the flyers for auditions in the student center, I was slightly more than curious. I was completely perplexed as to why college students, particularly men, would want to see a bunch of girls talk about hot flashes and estrogen. This perplexity carried me all the way to auditions for the Vagina Monologues.

I still didn’t really understand the point of the play. It seemed kind of a like a girls getting together to grumble over their periods. We complain about our tampons, how men don’t understand us, yadayadayada. Same ol’ same ol’. But there I was, at the auditions, looking over the different monologues that we could audition with. And that’s when I realized – this was about so much more than our monthly visits from Aunt Ruby. There were monologues about the beauty of birth and the joys of orgasms, but there were also monologues about rape, violence, and the struggle of the transgender population to find acceptance in society. I realized just how powerful these stories could be, and what an impact they could make on the empowerment of women.

Empowerment of women. It’s one of those terms that’s thrown around all the time as the supposed cure to all of the world’s problems. And don’t get me wrong, I think it would solve a lot of the world’s problems, but people make it sound so simple. Educate women in developing countries, and that’s all there is to it. Well gee, that’s great and all, but what if you can’t get girls to school? What if there fathers, or even mothers, won’t permit them to go because there’s too much work to do at home or because they believe that girls don’t belong at school? And if you do get girls to school, there’s no guarantee that women will automatically be empowered. Despite the high rates of female education in developed countries, women still earn less money then men. Despite the fact that more women now attend college then men in the United States, many women are still pushed by their own mothers, their husbands, and society to become homemakers for the rest of their lives. It is not enough to empower women through external forces – women need to feel self-empowered, a force from within. They need self-respect, self-understanding. 

So I started thinking – these Vagina Monologues seem pretty great, and they’ve been going on for quite a while in the U.S. They are known for their strong message of female empowerment and respect. Despite their somewhat risqué nature, I wondered if they had ever been exported to different countries. As it turns out, the play has been exported – to 76 countries, including 3 Muslim countries deemed liberal enough to host a performance: Pakistan, Indonesia, and Egypt. Each country has adapted it to make it more culturally significant and featured local actresses.

The impact in these countries was clear. There are testimonies everywhere of the power of the Monologues to start a dialogue between women about violence, inequality, and women’s wants and needs. Many times, the women most powerfully touched by the performances were young women, who oftentimes had never spoken openly to anyone about their sexual experiences due to cultural taboo. The Times of India spoke excitedly about the play being performed in Hindi, saying that it apparently “will not be sleazy”. Women in Egypt spoke of the importance of the performance in their own country, saying, “It is important for us to do this because women in Egypt in the Gulf area don’t ever speak of what they want”. The director the Pakistani production stated, "Some actually said that it felt good and empowering to be able to use the word without any shame and worry, and not having to look over your shoulder to see if somebody had heard you”, and that she noticed that the audience felt “empowered”. This video documents the experience of bringing the Monologues to Lebanon. 

This is not to say that the Vagina Monologues have not weathered their fair share of criticism, both in the United States and abroad. Cutting down cultural barriers is not a simple task, but it is essential if these barriers are preventing the empowerment of women and girls, and consequently harming the health of females worldwide. Girls and women must learn to accept their own bodies before they can learn self-respect, and The Vagina Monologues may bring them one step closer.

UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon did not refer to lack of education, the high cost of HIV anti-retroviral treatment or lack of prevention services as the most important barrier to public action of HIV/AIDS. He did not mention apathy or carelessness.

Ban-Ki Moon identfied the most important barrier to HIV/AIDS as stigma. Stigma has been associated with HIV/AIDS for the past twenty-plus years, ever since the disease was identified. In the past twenty-nine years since HIV's unfortunate appearance, there have been many achievements: better prevention services, anti-retroviral therapy, more education about the education. The stigma surrounding HIV has lessened, but not enough. Families still shun their children, brothers, and cousins after a HIV diagnosis. Those living positively may be denied housing or other social services because of their status, and may not be able to attain an education. They may lose their job (remember the movie "Philadelphia" with Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington?), and may not receive quality health care. Many AIDS orphans are ostracized by their community and cannot go to school. 

Where does this stigma come from? In the US and many foreign countries, HIV/AIDS is associated with people who are "loose and easy", who participate in sex work, or who use intravenous drugs. Many still think that it is a gay man's disease. In other countries, a woman who has HIV is automatically blamed for getting the disease and giving it to her husband, even if her husband infected her. 

Stigma creates many barriers on the path to controlling the spread of HIV. In high stigma areas, people are four times less likely to get tested. In countries where there is a lack of anti-retrovirals, doctors refuse to treat HIV-positive patients for any medical condition because they figure they are going to die anyways. 

Many governments discriminate against people with HIV. It's been less than a year since the U.S. decided to finally let people living with HIV into the country for any period of time. In China, any resident who has lived outside of the country for more than a year must receive a HIV test. In the UK, a person who passes HIV to a partner, knowingly or unknowlingly, can be prosecuted. 

In the U.S., an estimated 27% of people would prefer not to work closely with a women living with HIV. What, do they think that they won't be able to control their urge to get down and have sex with her? Or are they planning on sharing a needle? 

So what to do? In this video, from Sierra Leone, a woman is ostracized by her community after receiving a positive HIV diagnosis. After a simple education class, her community accepts her. It may be just that simple. Comprehensive sex ed, including accurate and scientific information about HIV, is essential for the reduction of stigma. Governments and employers must also stop their discriminatory policies, whether or not they are written down in stone. 

We must all be courageous enough to be open and frank about our discussions about HIV, and let people know that it is not something to be afraid of. That is the only way to move forward and beat HIV.

After scouring the internet for a while, I have found plenty of websites addressing World AIDS Day. There's the CDC, HHS, World Aids Campaign, UNAIDS, Avert (who made this fantastic video that I posted a month ago). Yet, after all of this scouring, I still have difficulty figuring out exactly what action needs to be taken to address the growing AIDS epidemic. All of these organizations seem pretty content to sit around and pat themselves on the back for all of the headway that they've made about AIDS, yet they are not addressing the challenges that we still face and the action that needs to be taken to meet these challenges (with the exception of Avert and their wonderful video). 

It is entirely true that these organizations have made fantastic progress against HIV/AIDS; without all of the funding, research, and hours that have been poured into HIV/AIDS programs, the potential scale of the epidemic today would be incomprehensible. However, the purpose of World AIDS Day is to remind everyone that the fight has not been won just yet. 

According to UNAIDS, 33.3 million people are now living positively, and 2.5 million of these people are children. In 2009, there were 2.6 million new infections and 1.8 million died after their battle with AIDS. 

There are 5 million youth worldwide between the ages of 15 and 24 who are living positively.

AIDS is the second most common cause of death for youth between the ages of 20-24 worldwide.

45% of new HIV infections each year worldwide occur among young people.

95% of new infections occur in the least developed countries. 

Only 34% of young people have comprehensive knowledge of HIV worldwide.

UNAIDS found that in 2010 prevention programs fail to pay attention to the special needs of young people who use drugs, engage in sex work, or men having sex with men.

In Zambia, condom use among young people decreased in 2010.

The fight is not over.  

**On Thursday and Friday I will post blogs about specific actions that need to be taken to decrease the prevalence of HIV among young people and the need for universal access to ARVs.

Last week, President Ahmadinejad of Iran urged young girls in Iran to marry at the age of 16, and boys to marry at the age of 20, according to the Huffington Post and the Guardian.

Currently, the average age of marriage for a woman in Iran is 24, and the average age of marriage for a man is 26. To Ahmadinejad, waiting this long to get married is simply unacceptable.

CEDAW, the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, recommends that the minimum legal age of marriage be 18. Unsurprisingly, Iran has not signed CEDAW. But oh wait, neither has the United States.

While 16-year-olds may not be children by some standards, this statement by President Ahmadinejad signals a disturbing trend in a country that has come far in the past forty years in regards to women’s rights to contraception and a later age of first marriage.

Child marriage hinders development in many countries in addition to restricting the rights of youth and women everywhere. Married children are robbed of their childhood. They are torn away from their family and friends and usually pulled out of school. Girls who are married at young ages are often married to much older men, putting them at risk for domestic violence and leaving them powerless over their own lives. They usually cannot say when or if they want sex, and they can rarely ask their male partner to use contraception. A young girl is powerless to bring charges against her husband if he abuses her.

Child marriage is also harmful to young girls’ health. Many girls become pregnant too early and too often. Pregnancy often occurs before a young girl’s is prepared for it physically or mentally, leading to higher rates of maternal and infant mortality.

News spread around the world earlier this year after a Yemeni 12-year-old child bride died from massive internal bleeding following intercourse with her new husband, who was at least twice her age. Her husband was later arrested and accused of rape. The government refuses to take action to prevent these occurrances from happening in the first place by enforcing a minimum acceptable age of marriage.

No better video sums up the consequences of child marriage than this one by the Girl Effect.

In the United States, we think that teen pregnancy is a scandal. 16, 17-year-old girls becoming pregnant before they finish high school? We watch “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom” and sympathize with the young mothers.  The stars of these shows fill the front pages of Us Weekly and OK!. But where are the 12-year-old girls in Afghanistan who are getting married to men twice their age, against their will? Where is the attention to the girl in this video, who is crying as she is carried to her own marriage ceremony – and they don’t seem to be tears of joy?

We aren’t doing enough to stop child marriage and protect the fundamental rights of girls around the world. If we don’t stop child marriage today, 100 million girls under the age of 18 will be married in the next decade. Luckily, there is something that we and Congress can do.

First, ask your senator to vote for the ratification of CEDAW. CEDAW encompasses everything that needs to be done to protect the rights of women, including protecting young girls from unwanted marriage.

Tell your representatives that HR 2103, International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2009. Urge your representatives to remember that this bill needs to be brought into the House for a vote.

These bills will show support to the young Iranians today and will urge them not to follow President Ahmadinejad’s order. It will urge young women and men to preserve their rights and get married when they wish to get married, and not at the age that prevents from achieving an education and from seeing their wishes come true.

World Aids Day 2010 is on Wednesday, December 1st. What are you planning? 

 As news reaches us of the newspaper article published in Rolling Stone (a Ugandan paper not connected to the U.S. version) which commanded its readers to hang the 'Top 100 Homosexuals' in the African Nation and David Bahati's announcement that he has been promised a second reading of the anti-homosexuality bill in Ugandan Parliament, attention has once again turned to the role of American Evangelicals in the formation of this bill and the fervent anti-homosexuality sentiment found across Uganda.

When news first reached American ears a year ago about the bill that would make homosexuality illegal and punishable by death, the initial outrage was followed by an investigation into the relationship between prominent American Evangelicals and Ugandan leaders by American news sources. At the beginning of this inquiry, the American media focused upon a conference held in Uganda in March 2009 that addressed, as the Ugandan organizer put it,'"the gay agenda - that whole hidden and dark agenda" - and the threat homosexuals posed to Bible-based values and the traditional African family' according to this article by the New York Times that was published in January 2010. Many identified this conference as the beginning of the violent anti-gay feeling prevalent across the country. This video clip by ABC news explains the connection further:

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In a recent episode of America’s Next Top Model, Kayla, an openly gay contestant, struggles with her emotions at a commercial shoot where the contestants must kiss a male model. After being pressed about the reason for her emotional state by the creative director, Kayla admits that she was sexually abused for a year and a half beginning at the age of eleven; she had never told anyone. She has been fearful of men ever since. The clip of the incident is below.



The creative director pressed Kayla to get help and to talk to someone about the assault, assuring her that it would be the best way to move away from her past and focus on her future.  While Kayla may be able to access counseling services, many victims in developing countries cannot.

According to a report by the World Health Organization it is estimated that one in four women may experience sexual violence by an intimate partner, and that one-third of adolescent girls report their first sexual experience as forced. As we know, sexual assault affects both physical and mental health. Victims of sexual assault often experience sexual and reproductive health problems, and the mental health impact can be serious. Deaths after sexual assault are often a result of suicide, HIV infection, or murder. The murder may occur during the assault or after as an “honor killing”. Victims are often ostracized by their families and their communities.

Without counseling after the assault or rape, psychological effects usually last for a year or more. While there is little evidence of the availability of counseling services in developing countries, Advocates for Youth tells us that sexual assault and abuse is highly prevalent in developing countries. A study in Uganda showed that of sexually active primary school girls, 49% reported that they had been forced into having intercourse. Many girls are forced into marriage or premarital intercourse, often times with much older men.

We can help to stop the endemic sexual abuse by urging the United States to ratify the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.  This would protect many girls and young women from sexual abuse, and help them to gain support and achieve legal action against the perpetrator. Click here to urge President Obama to ratify CEDAW!