Sex with a virgin cures AIDS? Myth may be contributing to sex slavery and child rape?

Question

Sex Slaves Returning Home Raise AIDS Risks, Study Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/world/asia/01hiv.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The study, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, concerns girls from Nepal trafficked into bordellos in India, but the problem is also emerging elsewhere, said the lead author, Jay G. Silverman, a professor of human development at Harvard’s School of Public Health.

Brothel owners pay twice as much for young girls, Dr. Silverman said, & charge more for sex with them, sometimes presenting them as virgins, because men think young girls have fewer diseases or believe the myth — common in some countries — that sex with a virgin cures AIDS.

Even though focus has been on Asia and Africa, this is a world-wide myth, also believed in Europe and the Americas, according to Avert, a world-wide international AIDS charity (scroll near the bottom of the page): http://www.avert.org/cure-for-aids.htm

Sex with a virgin cures AIDS? Why believe this?

Answer 1

People in the past believed that sex with a virgin was a cure for syphilis. They thought that syphilis or any other STI was paying the price for sins of the flesh and a virgin was free of sin so.. 2+2.

Many people still believed this in Victorian England during the 19th century. And there were many child prostitutes in London. They were usually girls who were orphans from English and Welsh villages. You can guess what often happened.

Of course most educated people knew that sex with a virgin did not cure disease.

Isn't it scary that we are in the 21st century and this is Not history?

Answer 2

this has been a concern for a while in the public health field. men want prostitutes to be younger & younger w/ the idea that young girls are less likely to have hiv. then, sure enough, they will develop the disease - while they are still young.

there are myths that still circulate about hiv - having sex with a virgin will cure the person of aids, the wife must marry the man's brother when the husband dies, myths & opinions about condoms.

i have heard from someone in nepal that approx'ly 5,000 young girls are trafficked into india each year. they were tying to build a safe house.

Answer 3

the word AIDS is a sick decises that has no cure and this is the illness that has been kill millons of people around the world today and the team HIV AIDS is now the leading factor of death. especially amonug the young people.
People have been warned about HIV and AIDS for over twenty years now. AIDS has already killed millions of people, millions more continue to become infected with HIV, and there's no cure - so AIDS will be around for a while yet. However, some of us still don't know exactly what HIV and AIDS
what is HIV?
HIV is a virus. Viruses infect the cells of living organisms and replicate (make new copies of themselves) within those cells. A virus can also damage human cells, which is one of the things that can make an infected creature become ill.

People can become infected with HIV from other people who already have it, and when they are infected they can then go on to infect other people.
H= 'Human I= Immunodeficiency V= Virus'

What is AIDS?
A damaged immune system is not only more vulnerable to HIV, but also to the attacks of other infections. It won't always have the strength to fight off things that wouldn't have bothered it before.

As time goes by, a person who has been infected with HIV is likely to become ill more and more often until, usually several years after infection, they become ill with one of a number of particularly severe illnesses. It is at this point that they are said to have AIDS - when they first become seriously ill, or when the number of immune system cells left in their body drops below a particular point. Different countries have slightly different ways of defining the point at which a person is said to have AIDS rather than HIV.
AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Around the world, there are a number of different myths about HIV and AIDS. Here are some of the more common ones :

'You would have to drink a bucket of infected saliva to become infected yourself' . . . Yuck! This is a typical myth. HIV is found in saliva, but in quantities too small to infect someone. If you drink a bucket of saliva from an HIV positive person, you won't become infected. There has been only one recorded case of HIV transmission via kissing, out of all the many millions of kisses. In this case, both partners had extremely badly bleeding gums.

'Sex with a virgin can cure HIV' . . . This myth is common in some parts of Africa, and it is totally untrue. The myth has resulted in many rapes of young girls and children by HIV+ men, who often infect their victims. Rape won't cure anything and is a serious crime all around the world.

'It only happens to gay men / black people / young people, etc' . . . This myth is false. Most people who become infected with HIV didn't think it would happen to them, and were wrong.

'HIV can pass through latex' . . . Some people have been spreading rumours that the virus is so small that it can pass through 'holes' in latex used to make condoms. This is untrue. The fact is that latex blocks HIV, as well as sperm - preventing pregnancy, too.

Worryingly, surveys show that many people think that there's a 'cure' for AIDS - which makes them feel safer, and perhaps take risks that they otherwise shouldn't. These people are wrong, though - there is still no cure for AIDS.

There is antiretroviral medication which slows the progression from HIV to AIDS, and which can keep some people healthy for many years. In some cases, the antiretroviral medication seems to stop working after a number of years, but in other cases people can recover from AIDS and live with HIV for a very long time. But they have to take powerful medication every day of their lives, sometimes with very unpleasant side effects.

There is still no way to cure AIDS, and at the moment the only way to remain safe is not to become infected.

Answer 4

The body of the question speaks for itself.

In response to the headline question : "Sex with a virgin cures AIDS? Myth may be contributing to sex slavery and child rape?"

Yes. Absolutely. And being used as an excuse to justify it too.

Answer 5

Do you know why men do these horrible things to children?

1. They want to.
2. They don't think there will be any bad consequences.

They don't need another excuse. If this is a myth, then this continues to happen because the authorities allow it and the men can afford it.

I hope they experience pain beyond measure.

There sure are a lot of ignorant and cruel people in the world.

Answer 6

I guess it's the same reason why people believe that all virgins must bleed, or that a non-virgin has a huge vagina (like the thread I just made).

They don't know much about a female's body, so they will believe anything they hear.

Maybe they say that to encourage girls to stay virgins, so a virgin girl can think "Oh I marry a rich man who has AIDS and cure him." I don't know.

Answer 7

Virginity still maintains an idea of purity. AIDS gives off the idea of impure and unclean. So I guess the reasoning is that using the purity of a young girl will cleanse you of the impurity of AIDS.

Answer 8

thank abstinence only education. talk to almost any 16 year old and you will see they are clueless. they don't know how you can get pregnant, why they have a period, which STI's are curable, or anything else to do with sexual health. hell, they probably think there is a cure for AIDS.

Answer 9

That’s not true… what if the person that makes love with this virgin is an AIDS patient? …the "no longer virgin" will suffer the rest of her/his life because of this stupid thought!

Answer 10

Just again more ignorance to use and abuse young chidren for profit ...men don't give a damn about these children..
all the sex trade is the need for greed the children are meat...