Dean Peacock

Sociologist Shari L. Dworkin interviews Dean Peacock, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Sonke Gender Justice (a South-African NGO). This interview attempts to flesh out the ways in which men are critical points of engagement and active agents in reducing violence and minimizing the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The ways in which social science thinking has inspired Sonke's "One Man Can Campaign" is explored, along with the program and policy impact of Sonke's numerous innovative "gender-transformative" projects.

Although gender-specific theories are often deployed in interventions to reduce women's HIV risks, the same is often not true for interventions among men. Theories of masculinity are not guiding most US research on the risky sexual behavior of heterosexual men or on what can be done to intervene. We first assess the extent to which evidence-based HIV-prevention interventions among heterosexually active men in the United States draw upon relevant theories of masculinity. Next, we introduce a useful framework within masculinity and gender studies that can be applied to HIV-prevention interventions with heterosexually active men. Finally, we make suggestions to improve the gender specificity of HIV-prevention interventions for heterosexually active men in the United States.

Globally, men are less likely than women to access human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing, treatment, and care, and consequently experience disproportionate HIV-related mortality. To address men's underutilization of HIV services, efforts are needed on two fronts: challenging the regressive gender norms that discourage men from seeking health services, and developing improved health system policies, programs, and service delivery strategies to ensure better provision of HIV services to men. It has long been understood that harmful gender norms make women vulnerable to HIV, and this understanding should expand to include the way these norms also put men at risk. This paper presents the data concerning men and HIV, explores the impact of gender norms, examines national and international policy developments, and chronicles the evolution of men’s place in the HIV response. It does so in part by tracing the efforts of Sonke Gender Justice, a South African NGO working across Afric...

... approached us and urged us to become involved." As a result of the intervention of the councilors, men like Murungweni became active in “bathing, feeding and doing chores for patients, … fetching firewood and food (and providing) financial assistance for buying drugs, or ...