Quote Originally Posted by BruceAlmighty View Post
There is so much ignorance out there. I know it is a cheap shot, but in Africe it is a strongely held belief that having sex with a virgin cures you of AIDS; and that washing one's memeber after sex is enough. CHeck out the view of the current leader of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, and the idealogy becomes scarily evident.

As I said, an extreme example, but a lot of people do not understand the situation.
Not a cheap shot, just an ill-informed shot. The "sex with a virgin" theory is a commonly cited excuse for rape of children and babies in South Africa. I've never heard of this trend occuring in Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Senegal ... I could go on.

It's a pretty pathetic claim, and I think one given to attempt to justify the unjustifiable - a violent and crippling sexual assault on children sometimes not out of nappies.

I've got to confess to not keeping up with the politics there. I know that Zuma's predecessor, Mbeki, objected to the standard position on AIDS and how it is transmitted and how it is treated. But not because he was supporting the sex with virgins theory. But perhaps his obstruction of access to Western treatments (out of the financial reach of most that needed it) drove the desparate to the ignorant recommendations of some local village "medicine man"?

Zuma, I think, was involved in a sexual scandal, the like of which is common place amongst men of power in political countries. I don't think he did what he did because he was seeking a virgin to cure AIDs or endorsing it. I think he "confused" puberty with age of consent.

xxx

Pru