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This young Kenyan turned to boxing to protect herself from assault
The Dallas Boxing Club sits in the middle of a busy and disorganized market in Muthurwa, a slum in Nairobi. The outside walls are stained, a number of windows are broken and there is no sign to...
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In South Africa, HIV rates are rising in young women and girls. Our new...
Advocates say they’re winning the war against HIV/AIDs.At the International AIDS Conference in Paris last week, officials released numbers showing improvement: New infections of children fell by half...
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Lesbians in Senegal just want a place where they can be themselves
It is not easy to find gay women in Senegal. Homosexuality is illegal in the country, though several small LGBT rights groups operate there. But because they were founded during the AIDS crisis and...
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How do you judge a child soldier?
No one seems to remember what the boy’s real name was. But his cousin, Lily Atong, remembers him well. When she talks about him, she gets a distant, wistful look in her eyes.They grew up together, here...
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At 16, she found out she was pregnant and HIV positive. That's when she found...
The nurse at the clinic stood there explaining. Nhlanhla sat in silence.What was there for her to say really? Nhlanhla was 16. Pregnant. And she had just tested positive for HIV.This, she thought —...
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Want to learn about sex? In South Africa, just turn on the radio.
When Marlene Wasserman was a young woman, she wanted to study sex.It’s ironic that she was interested in how people get together in the most intimate of ways because she lives in a country that is...
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Why violence is linked to the rising rate of HIV in South Africa's young women
Ziynda Kamte says she looked out the bus window the whole way to Cape Town.She says she never stopped looking back. She was terrified that he would pop into her view, coming to get her and their two...
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The key to stopping HIV could someday be a vaginal ring or a needle in the arm
Ziyanda Kamte says she knew her husband was cheating on her.And she knew a lot about the HIV epidemic — her aunt died of AIDS-related tuberculosis. So, when her husband demanded sex, Kamte demanded...
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What it means in South Africa when you are #blessed
What does it mean to blessed?A “blesser” in South Africa is kind of like a sugar daddy. He's an older man who often has multiple girlfriends he lavishes with gifts, in exchange for sex and...
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Do bride prices drive terrorism?
Terrorism experts have long known that poverty is a factor in tempting young men to join radical terrorist groups, but what about bride prices?A new article in MIT Press Journal argues that many young,...
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At 14, she tested positive for HIV — now she calls herself an HIVictor
It’s a clear winter morning in Pretoria.On a suburban lawn, under the shade of a tree, a group of young actors is rehearsing for an upcoming production of the play, "My Children! My Africa!" Sadie...
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South African artist Lady Skollie explains why she paints burning vaginas
Laura Windvogel unlocks the heavy outer door to her studio on a quiet Sunday morning. She climbs the warehouse stairs. And she unlocks the next lock to another metal door. And through that door, she...
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Indian court rules that men need protection from women making unsubstantiated...
Men’s rights activists scored a significant victory in India recently when the Supreme Court essentially identified them as the victims in domestic violence cases. The judges weren’t making the law...
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Why French Muslim comedian Samia Orosemane says she's like a UFO
It’s no small feat for a French Muslim woman from a disenfranchised suburb of Paris to make it on stage, let alone as a stand-up comedian. Enter Samia Orosemane.At the start of her Paris one-woman...
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Here are 5 ways you can help fight HIV/AIDS in South Africa and globally
We just finished our POSITIVE series — stories of women and girls under the age of 24 living with HIV in South Africa. We called our Series POSITIVE not only because it centers on the stories of...
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Chile eases one of the world's strictest abortion bans
The Constitutional Court of Chile made an historic move this week, easing the country's total ban on abortion.Chile is one of seven countries in the world that forbid abortion under all circumstances....
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Inside the Philippines’ women-run crime ring selling abortion elixirs
The drug deal takes place in the back of a sedan, parked near one of Manila’s most exalted cathedrals.The dealer, Elsa — not her real name — has brought her wares in a plastic shopping bag. At my...
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Mexican women stand up to cyberattacks and vicious digital violence
Indira Cornelio stands before two dozen women crowded into a downtown Mexico City community center.She has a question for them.“How many of you have had to purge your Facebook page?” she asks. “You...
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Instant divorce is unconstitutional in India, finally
According to a Muslim custom that is rooted in tradition but not Islamic law, men have to say just three words to their wives if they want to dissolve their marriages.“Talaq, talaq, talaq” — and he’s...
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Extreme weather is wreaking havoc on the lives of women farmers in Fiji
Sunila Wati arranges green beans and pumpkins at her farmer’s market booth in the town of Rakiraki. It’s almost all women selling fruits and vegetables here, and Wati chats with the market ladies in...
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