Gender, sexuality, and the prevention of sexually transmissible diseases: a Brazilian study of clinical practice

Epidemiological tendencies in the spread of HIV/AIDS in Brazil demonstrate the increasing importance of heterosexual transmission to women who are not included in those traditional categories of 'risk' which have so far guide d research and attempts at prevention. While more attention is now being gi ven to other STDs as part of HIV prevention, this same view of 'risk' preva ils, as does a tendency to rely on strictly quantitative indicators and con ceptions which treat health care workers' beliefs and attitudes as individu al phenomena. This study. an examination of clinical practices of STD management in gynec ological and antenatal programs in public health posts in Rio de Janeiro, r eveals the mutually-reinforcing relationship between Sender norms in sexual ity and gynecological clinical practices, which results in the reproduction of both gender hierarchy and vulnerability to infection by all STDs. (C) 1 998 Elsevier Science Ltd, All rights reserved.