“Dry sex” increases risk of HIV?

Women around the world are carrying out a practice which not only leaves them in pain but at increased risk of HIV. 

'Dry sex' is known to be carried out in South and Central Africa, and Indonesia and it involves women reducing moisture in their vaginas in order to make intercourse more pleasurable for men. According to Dailymail.co.uk, this can lead to cuts, sores and inflammation in the vagina, and increases the chance of a condom breaking.

These factors in turn increase the chance of the women contracting sexually transmitted diseases including HIV.

It is borne out of a cultural belief that men find sex more pleasurable if a woman's vagina is dry, and that men will reject women whose vaginas have been ‘stretched out’ by sex. To achieve dryness, women insert, chalk, sand, pulverized rock, herbs, paper or sponges before sex, according to journalist Ms Syfret, who has reported on the practice in South Africa.

They also douse their vaginas in detergents, antiseptics, alcohol and bleach. Women in Java, Indonesia, even 'smoke out' their vaginas by standing over burning herbs.

In other areas of Indonesia it is common to insert a cigar-shaped stick made of a plant root.

While World Health Organization consultation papers show global health officials are aware the problem exists, most of the research on it is decades old and there are no broad figures on its prevalence.

A 2009 study looking at how dry sex spreads HIV in Zambian women found knowledge of the practice was widespread.

Around two-thirds of the 812 women polled had used traditional dry sex medicines at some point in their lives, and about half were currently using them.

But a reluctance to discuss sexual health meant the practice was not debated.

The researchers concluded: 'Most of the available information has been anecdotal, speculative or inadequate - mainly because of cultural reluctance to discuss or investigate personal sexual issues.'

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