Sex, Soaps, and Sensationalism: Multiple and Concurrent Partnerships in the Popular Media

This 15-page document presents the summarised proceedings of the 2009 HIV/AIDS and the Media discussion forum held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The forum was hosted by the HIV/AIDS and the Media Project and USAID/Johns Hopkins University Programme in South Africa, in partnership with the Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication and matchboxology. In this forum, a range of experts and media practitioners took the opportunity to explore the key driver of the HIV epidemic in South Africa - multiple concurrent partnerships (MCP) - and its portrayal in popular media, particularly soap operas. This document includes reports from four presentations given during the roundtable, as well as recommendations and comments emerging from a panel discussion.

Leickness Simbayi from the Human Sciences Research Council introduced the concept of MCP and outlined the harmful effects of these partnerships on HIV prevalence, especially in conjunction with other drivers of HIV transmission, such as low levels of condom use and male circumcision, and patriarchal attitudes towards sexual monogamy. Simbayi emphasised that a multi-level intervention would be necessary to curb MCP, including changing the level of social approval by which these relationships are driven. He suggested that the media can be a useful tool in HIV/AIDS related information and messaging.

Lebo Ramafoko of the Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication focused on ways in which the media could be utilised as a tool for social change. She suggested that, due to the sheer pervasiveness of the mass media in South Africa, the popularity of television could be employed to create a shift in social norms. Soap operas are particularly useful in the context of positively influencing high-risk sexual behaviour, because they deal with complex issues through emotional engagement with the characters, while also emphasising the effects of choice and consequence.

Sandra Roberts of Media Monitoring Africa presented research that specifically investigated portrayals of HIV/AIDS and MCP in South African popular media, most notably soap operas and tabloid newspapers. The study found that of the newspaper articles which portrayed relationships, only 2% represented monogamous relationships while 60% portrayed MCP. Most articles did not condemn the practice, but in fact created an association of a certain amount of glamour and sensationalism. There were also racial dynamics at play, with 44% of unfaithful partners being black, and 22% white. Only 11 referred to HIV. Of all sexual acts represented in soap operas Roberts noted that 82% showed MCP, and that different soap operas had different attitudes toward its acceptability. HIV/AIDS was only addressed in 8% of the episodes studied. It also found that all observed characters living with HIV were black women, which is problematic in terms of perpetuating stereotypes around living with the virus.

Warren Parker, co-founder of the Centre for AIDS Development, Research and Evaluation (Cadre), demonstrated the influence television shows, and soap operas in particular, had on viewers' perceptions of socially acceptable behaviour. He showed how the need to draw in the largest possible audience was boosted by the airing of sexual intrigue. He also demonstrated how television shows act to legitimise certain behaviours by presenting them as normal. Parker argued that it is producers' and writers' responsibility to think carefully about how sexuality and sexual practices are represented and condoned, and to take the lead in de-legitimising representations of risky behaviour.

The report also includes a number of comments from the panel, which address such issues as the nature of storytelling, the power of role modelling, as well as the way forward. Recommendations included ensuring messages are not too direct or over-emphasised in soaps; and researching issues thoroughly to accurately represent reality.