Condom Semiotics: Meaning and Condom Use in Rural Malawi

Abstract

This article examines the widespread resistance to condom use in sub-Saharan Africa by describing the major semiotic axes that organize how people talk about condoms and condom use. These axes include the “sweetness” of sex, trust and love between sexual partners, and assessments of risk and danger. Using data from rural Malawi, we show that framing the meaning of condoms as a simple choice between risky behavior and rational attempts to protect one's health ignores the complex semiotic space that Malawians navigate. Based on data from more than 600 diaries that record rural Malawians' everyday conversations, our analysis charts the semiotic axes related to condom use. Semiotic constraints operate most powerfully at the level of relationships. Condom use signifies a risky, less serious, and less intimate partner. Even when people believe that condom use is appropriate, wise, or even a matter of life and death, the statement that condom use makes about a relationship usually trumps all other meanings. We call for a more nuanced analysis of culture, one that is attentive to the ways agents navigate multiple, contested meanings, and that demonstrates how specific semiotic axes are brought to bear in particular interactional contexts.

How Network Externalities Can Exacerbate Intergroup Inequality

“…The risks of smoking cigarettes, for example, are greater if your network reinforces your behavior, discourages quitting, and teaches you to value the practice (Christakis and Fowler 2008). Unprotected sex is a greater risk in networks where members deride condom use than in milieus in which condom use is widespread (Tavory and Swidler 2009). If externalities were entirely negative -if their only effect were to raise the cost or reduce the benefit of a behavior -then externalities would discourage adoption.…”

Condoms in sub-Saharan Africa

“…43,73,74,79,113,115,116 For these reasons, condoms are not only considered unnecessary, but are also seen as damaging in a relationship built on trust, most especially in marriage. 32,76,80,[114][115][116][117] In Chimbiri's study in Malawi, for example, condoms were referred to as 'an intruder into the domestic space.' 77 This is even the case for serodiscordant couples.…”

Missing safer sex strategies in HIV Prevention:A call for further research

“…Researchers have pointed to many reasons for the low overall rates of condom use ranging from lack of access to condoms and poverty to reduced pleasure from condoms and low female bargaining power. 5 But it is crucial to consider the context of local sexual practices as well: cultural variations in sexual practices often have a strong impact on the potential applicability of condoms. For example, Chimbiri (2007) finds that Malawians accept condoms for use with extramarital partners, but consider them inappropriate within a marriage; as a result, very few married couples use condoms.…”