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The Secret: Love, Marriage and HIV
Jennifer S. Hirsch, Holly Wardlow, Daniel Jordan Smith, Harriet Phinney, Shanti Parikh, and Connie Nathanson
Vanderbilt University Press, 2010

A CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title of 2010

For information on other project-related publications please choose from among the items in the pulldown menu.

Journal articles

Hirsch, J. S., S. Meneses, et al. (2007). "The inevitability of infidelity: sexual reputation, social geographies, and marital HIV risk in rural Mexico." Am J Public Health 97(6): 986-96.

Marriage presents the single greatest risk for HIV infection among women in rural Mexico. We drew on 6 months of participant observation, 20 marital case studies, 37 key informant interviews, and archival research to explore the factors that shape HIV risk among married women in one of the country's rural communities. We found that culturally constructed notions of reputation in this community lead to sexual behavior designed to minimize men's social risk (threats to one's social status or relationships), rather than viral risk and that men's desire for companionate intimacy may actually increase women's risk for HIV infection. We also describe the intertwining of reputation-based sexual identities with structurally patterned sexual geographies (i.e. the social spaces that shape sexual behavior). We propose that, because of the structural nature of men's extramarital sexual behavior, intervention development should concentrate on sexual geographies and risky spaces rather than risky behaviors or identities.

Parikh, S. A. (2007). "The political economy of marriage and HIV: the ABC approach, "safe" infidelity, and managing moral risk in Uganda." Am J Public Health 97(7): 1198-208.

Research has shown that married women's greatest risk for HIV infection is their husbands' extramarital sexual activities. Using 6 months of ethnographic research in southeastern Uganda, I examined how the social and economic contexts surrounding men's extramarital sexuality and the dynamics of marriage put men and women at risk for HIV infection. I found that Uganda's HIV prevention messages may be inadvertently contributing to increased difficulty in acknowledging HIV risk and to newer forms of sexual secrecy and that structural determinants, including persistent poverty, intersect with gender inequalities to shape marital risk. After examining a community effort to regulate men's sexuality, I suggest that HIV prevention strategies should focus more on endogenous forms of risk reduction while simultaneously addressing structural factors that facilitate opportunities for men's extramarital sex.

Phinney, H. M. (2008). ""Rice is essential but tiresome; you should get some noodles": Doi Moi and the political economy of men's extramarital sexual relations and marital HIV risk in Hanoi, Vietnam." Am J Public Health 98(4): 650-60.

Research from around the world has suggested that married women's greatest risk for contracting HIV is from having sexual intercourse with their husbands. On the basis of 6 months of ethnographic research in Hanoi, Vietnam, I argue that the contemporary nature of the HIV epidemic in Hanoi is shaped by 3 interrelated policies implemented in 1986 as part of the government's new economic policy, Doi Moi (Renovation). Together, these policies structure men's opportunities for extramarital sexual relations and encourage wives to acquiesce to their husbands' sexual infidelity, putting both at risk of HIV. I propose 4 structural intervention strategies that address the policies that contribute to men's opportunities for extramarital liaisons and to marital HIV risk.

Smith, D. J. (2007). "Modern marriage, men's extramarital sex, and HIV risk in southeastern Nigeria." Am J Public Health 97(6): 997-1005.

For women in Nigeria, as in many settings, simply being married can contribute to the risk of contracting HIV. I studied men's extramarital sexual behavior in the context of modern marriage in southeastern Nigeria. The results indicate that the social organization of infidelity is shaped by economic inequality, aspirations for modern lifestyles, gender disparities, and contradictory moralities. It is men's anxieties and ambivalence about masculinity, sexual morality, and social reputation in the context of seeking modern lifestyles--rather than immoral sexual behavior and traditional culture--that exacerbate the risks of HIV/AIDS.

Wardlow, H. (2007). "Men's extramarital sexuality in rural Papua New Guinea." Am J Public Health 97(6): 1006-14.

Married women in rural Papua New Guinea are at risk for HIV primarily because of their husbands' extramarital relationships. Labor migration puts these men in social contexts that encourage infidelity. Moreover, many men do not view sexual fidelity as necessary for achieving a happy marriage, but they view drinking and "looking for women" as important for male friendships. Although fear of HIV infection is increasing, the concern that men most often articulated about the consequences of extramarital infidelity was possible violent retaliation for "stealing" another man's wife. Therefore, divorced or separated women who exchange sex for money are considered to be "safe" partners. Interventions that promote fidelity will fail in the absence of a social and economic infrastructure that supports fidelity.

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Book Chapters

Hirsch, Jennifer S. (2007).  “'Love makes a family': Globalization, Companionate Marriage, and the Modernization of Gender Inequality”. In Padilla, M., J.S. Hirsch, R. Sember, M. Muñoz-Laboy, and R.G. Parker, eds.  Love and Globalization:  Transformations of Intimacy in the Contemporary World. Nashville, TN:  Vanderbilt University Press.

Hirsch, Jennifer S. and Meneses Navaro, Sergio. (2009).  ‘Que gusto estar de vuelta en mi tierra’ [what a pleasure to be back in my homeland]: The gendered sexual geographies of transnational migration.  In  P. Aggleton, M. Haour-Knipe, & F. Thomas (Eds.), Mobility, Sexuality and AIDS (131-142). London: Routledge.

Parikh, Shanti.  (2007). The Age of Consent Law and Moral Order: The Criminalization of Youth Sexual Relationships in Uganda. In C.M. Elliott (Ed.), Global Empowerment of Women: Responses to Globalization and Politicized Religions, (303-326).  New York: Routledge.

Parikh, Shanti.  (2008).  Beyond the Structure vs. Agency Debate in Sexual Decision-Making: Love Letters, Youth Romance and Condoms in Uganda. In D. Roberts et al (Eds.), Sex, Power and Taboo: Gender and HIV in the Caribbean and Beyond (67-84). Ian Randle Publishers: Kingston, Jamaica.

Smith, D. (2008). Intimacy, Infidelity, and Masculinity in Southeastern Nigeria. Intimacies: Love and Sex Across Cultures. W. Jankowiak. New York, Columbia University Press: 224-244.

Smith, D. (2009).  Migration, Men's Extramarital Sex and the Risk of HIV Infection in Nigeria.  In  P. Aggleton, M. Haour-Knipe, & F. Thomas (Eds.), Mobility, Sexuality and AIDS (187-198). London: Routledge.

Wardlow, H. (2009).  “Labour Migration and HIV Risk in Papua New Guinea.”  In  P. Aggleton, M. Haour-Knipe, & F. Thomas (Eds.), Mobility, Sexuality and AIDS (176-186). London: Routledge.

Wardlow, H. (2008). "She liked it best when she was on top": Intimacies and Estrangements in Huli Men's Marital and Extramarital Relationships. Intimacies: Love and Sex Across Cultures. W. Jankowiak. New York, Columbia University Press: 194-223.

Wardlow, H. (2008). "You have to understand: Some of us are glad AIDS has arrived": Christianity and Condoms among the Huli, Papua New Guinea. Making Sense of AIDS: Culture, Sexuality, and Power in Melanesia. L. Butt and R. Eves. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press: 187-205.

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Other Recent Books from the LMHIV Team

Regulating Romance: Youth Sex Culture, Love Letters, and Moral Anxiety in Uganda’s Time of HIV                                                                      Shanti Parikh (Under Contract)

Love and Globalization: Transformations of Intimacy in the Contemporary World
Mark B. Padilla, Jennier S. Hirsch, Miguel Munoz-Laboy, Robert Sember and Richard G. Parker, Editors
2008

A Culture of Corruption: Everyday Deception and Popular Discontent in Nigeria
Daniel Jordan Smith
2008

Wayward Women: Sexuality and Agency in a New Guinea Society
Holly Wardlow
2006

Modern Loves: The Anthropology of Romantic Courtship and Companionate Marriage
Jennifer S. Hirsch and Holly Wardlow, Editors
2006