Sexy Social-science film promises an HIV education
By Kim Johnson
CATEGORIES: Prevention and treatment | Hot in the media
1 July 2011
Education on HIV has too often been sterile, boring and apparently unconnected with what people really get up to in the sack. A film by acclaimed Intersexions director Rolie Nikiwe is set to change all that. The film will not only explore the social aspects of HIV but promises a science lesson as part of the package.
The Times and The Sowetan report that the feature film titled Inside Story: The Science of HIV/AIDS will tell the story of how a young soccer star hopeful, Kalu, moves from Kenya to Johannesburg to pursue his dream. In Johannesburg Kalu meets Ify and the two fall in love according to the tried and tested love story plot. That however is where tried and tested ends.
Kalu passes HIV to Ify and one would imagine that the audience is invited to follow the couple’s relationship over this hurdle to the events which might lie beyond it. In addition to examining HIV in the context of social relationships the film also follows the progress of the virus within Kalu’s body.
Education on HIV has too often been sterile, boring and apparently unconnected with what people really get up to in the sack. People’s social relationships and especially people’s sexual relationships—because sex is of course part of the social—need to be brought into the HIV picture in order to bring the message closer to home.
Let’s face it, diagrams of HIV molecules and print that tells us that HIV is transmitted primarily through heterosexual sex just doesn’t seem to be cutting it. The burgeoning population of pregnant school girls is just one glaring example which indicates that young people are continuing to engage in risky sexual behavior.
The South African public needs to be engaged on the level of what happens during real, down to earth sex; oral sex, anal sex, thigh sex, sex between two men, sex between more than two people.
We can no longer afford to talk about the science without the social. Starting to talk about the facts of HIV with direct reference to sexual relationships, means truly talking about safe sex.
Another upside to having frank and open conversations around safe sex is that the talk gets ‘smutty’ but also quite sexy. While it might seem cheap to exploit the sex sells phenomenon in order to get people interested in safe sex, a bit of titillation might be the best way to ensure more concentration.
Nikiwe’s film has the potential to usher in a new approach to HIV education. In theory the concept has the weight required to catch people’s attention. The integration of the factual and scientific into the love story also promises to teach audiences a thing or two about a condition which is still not fully understood by the public.
blog comments powered by Disqus
