The adventures of the Randy Professor and Angela the Sugar Mummy: Sex in fictional serials in Ugandan popular magazines
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Date
2005
Authors
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Publisher
AIDS Care: Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV
Abstract
In 1996 newspaper vendors in Ugandan towns started selling a new kind of locally produced ‘lifestyle’
magazine. On the covers there were young, scantily dressed girls and inside news articles, fictional
serials, lifestyle articles, agony aunt columns, etc. The new magazines gained an enormous popularity
in a short space of time. Everywhere people were seen reading them and copies became brown and
tattered from use. Using content analysis, we analyse the fictional serials which appeared in three of
these magazines. We focus on these because they were the most sexually explicit type of content and,
from a public health perspective, the most relevant with regard to HIV prevention. The stories were
presented as simple entertainment, depicting the adventures of stereotypical characters. They
provided people with explicit and unrestricted sexual fantasy which was, at the same time, devoid
of any real risk. Although they could be interpreted as providing a discourse which challenged the
main messages of HIV-prevention campaigns (sex is good for you, have as much of it as possible, and
don’t let condoms spoil the enjoyment), they also suggest that behaviour change may be more popular
if sex and sexual health are not separated from sexual pleasure, and safe sex is promoted from a
positive perspective (emphasis on sexual enjoyment) rather than a negative one (prevention of
disease). The popularity of the magazines underscores the importance of entertainment value when
discussing sex, and suggests alternative possibilities for disseminating health messages. Illustrated
popular magazines such as those discussed here could be suitable as intervention, though they would
need some adaptation to counter gender stereotypes and sexual violence.
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Keywords
Sugar Mummy, Sex in fictional serials, adventures
Citation
M. Gysels , R. Pool & S. Nyanzi (2005) The adventures of the Randy Professor and Angela the Sugar Mummy: Sex in fictional serials in Ugandan popular magazines, AIDS Care: Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV, 17:8, 967-977, DOI: 10.1080/09540120500100924