Nov. 11, 1999

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has infected 14 percent of the 10.1 million people in the small, beautiful Republic of Malawi, which lies landlocked in a central African plateau. On Oct. 29, President Bikili Muluzi introduced a controversial strategy to combat the plague, which "is spreading like a wildfire to every corner of the land," according to articles in the Nov. 3 InterPress Service and the Nov. 2 Agence France Presse. Muluzi's goal is to eliminate ancient tribal customs that are sexually unsafe, particularly to young girls and women.

In Malawian rural areas, virgin girls have traditionally been initiated into adulthood in lengthy puberty ceremonies that instruct them in how to pleasure males in bed. On the final day of the ritual, each girl sleeps with an elderly man known as a "Fisi" (hyena), who personally guides her in sexual activity.

In the southern district of Nsanje, the Sena tribe practices another custom known as "death cleansing." This ritual requires a woman who has recently been widowed to sleep with her deceased husband's brother before her dead spouse is buried. Traditionalists believe this intercourse appeases the departed spirits.

It's considered politically incorrect to deplore the customs of indigenous peoples, but I can't help noticing that the rituals above both seem created to provide extra nooky for the men. Misogynist customs are by no means a Malawian invention; the Old Testament itself is loaded with atrocious sex laws, such as the decree that unmarried rapists are required to marry their victims (Deuteronomy 22:28-29).

The death-cleansing and hyena-instruction rituals are targeted for extinction by Muluzi and HIV/AIDS activists, who view gender imbalance as a major culprit in the disease's spread. Funmi Balogni, gender program officer of the United National Development Program (UNDP), cites statistics that indicate a four to six times higher infection rate among young females than in their male counterparts. "We are dying in droves from HIV/AIDS because we cannot or still refuse to negotiate our relationships with men," Balogni laments.