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Sexual Health Exchange, 1998 - no. 1 Chile EPES (Programme for Health Education), a programme of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, addresses physical and sexual abuse in its HIV/AIDS and reproductive health education through seminars for residents of working-class neighbourhoods in Santiago and Concepción. In this way, they are putting into practice an "Ecumenical Platform for Action" adopted by 30 community organization workers in 1995. The Platform states: "We urge the churches to commit themselves to critical self-examination regarding their responsibility in perpetuating biases and cultural models that contribute to the subordination and oppression of women." In 1995, EPES organized a general skills-building seminar for 260 women that focused on AIDS in general. This was followed in 1996 by a seminar on violence and AIDS, organized in collaboration with a community-based NGO network (including two schools and two health centres) and CChPS (one of the first NGOs active in AIDS work in the country). The one-day seminar, attended by 250 women, opened with a panel/plenary discussion led by an EPES staff-member and a psychologist specialized in intra-family violence.
One tool for reflection given to women participating in the EPES seminar on violence and AIDS was a "health card" containing a broad range of questions related to reproductive health, including questions such as: "When was the last time I defended myself against any form of abuse?" Subsequently, two sets of workshops were held. "Educational workshops" focused on homosexuality and lesbianism, women and AIDS, vaginal health, sex workers and AIDS, and sex education. Two additional workshops examined intra-family violence from a theological perspective and sexual abuse of children. In the latter session, the participants had the opportunity to review their own beliefs about such abuse and what kinds of contacts between adults and children are desirable. They also learned to identify risk factors and how to protect children in the context of parental authority. Skills-building workshops from which the participants could choose included: safer sex, prevention of violence in the home, self-esteem, stress management, and AIDS education techniques. In two special workshops on personal defence, the women learned both physical and psychological self-defence techniques. The groups represented by the participants were asked to make some kind of commitment to follow-up. To facilitate this, each woman received a "commitment sheet" on which she could choose one of the following options:
EPES itself has continued work on this issue by participating in another, more institutionally-based network. One of their activities was a study on infant/child abuse which resulted in the publication of a 4-page leaflet for community distribution that defines such abuse and how it can be identified. What has come out of this work is the need to work with men. The women are becoming empowered and informed but dialogue with their husbands is difficult as the men have not been trained. EPES therefore is planning small-scale work to reach men in the communities they serve. |
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A picture code served as a discussion starter to address specific situations in the community that contribute to violence and risks of HIV/STD infection. Attention was also given to factors that play a role in physical and sexual abuse, e.g., isolation of women from their social networks, psychological abuse, economic abuse (not receiving enough money from their partners to take care of needs), intimidation, machismo, threats, using children as a weapon in confrontations to induce guilt.
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