Boyfriends and injecting: the role of intimate male partners in the life of women who inject drugs in Central Java

Abstract

The international literature shows that HIV-risk behaviour for women mostly occurs in the context of intimate relationships. Power imbalances in the social, economic and cultural spheres put women at risk. This paper addresses the roles of male partners in women's engagement in drug-use behaviour and drug-related HIV-risk behaviour in Indonesia. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews with 19 women who had injected drugs in the previous month in three sites in central Java. Most of the women had male partners who also injected drugs. Results show that male partners play a significant role in the initiation of drug use, the provision of drugs, injecting behaviour and in the constitution of women injectors' social networks. These findings suggest the need to develop couple-based interventions and to facilitate women-only groups as part of HIV prevention.

Selon la littérature internationale, les comportements à risques liés au VIH parmi les femmes se manifestent principalement dans le cadre des relations intimes. Les déséquilibres du pouvoir dans les sphères sociales, économiques et culturelles exposent les femmes à ces risques. Cet article aborde le rôle joué par les partenaires masculins dans les comportements de consommation de drogues et les comportements à risques liés au VIH inhérents à cette consommation, parmi les femmes en Indonésie. Les données ont été collectées pendant des entretiens en profondeur conduits avec 19 femmes qui s'étaient injecté des drogues au cours du mois précédent, dans trois sites du centre de Java. La plupart des femmes avaient des partenaires masculins qui s'étaient eux aussi injecté des drogues. Les résultats montrent que les partenaires masculins jouent un rôle significatif dans la phase initiale de la consommation de drogues, la fourniture des drogues, les comportements de consommation de drogues par injection et la constitution des réseaux sociaux des femmes qui s'injectent des drogues. Ils suggèrent la nécessité d'élaborer des interventions centrées sur le couple et de faciliter la mise en place de groupes de parole ne rassemblant que des femmes dans les actions de prévention du VIH.

En la bibliografía internacional se muestra que las conductas de riesgo de contagio del virus del sida en las mujeres ocurren sobre todo en el contexto de las relaciones íntimas. Los desequilibrios de poder en las esferas social, económica y cultural ponen a las mujeres en situación de riesgo. En este artículo abordamos qué funciones desempeñan las parejas masculinas para que las mujeres participen en conductas relacionadas con el consumo de drogas y conductas de riesgo del VIH relacionadas con las drogas en Indonesia. Se recabaron datos a partir de entrevistas exhaustivas con 19 mujeres que se habían inyectado drogas durante el mes anterior en tres lugares de Java central. La mayoría de las mujeres tenían parejas masculinas que también se inyectaban drogas. Los resultados indican que las parejas masculinas desempeñan un papel significativo en el inicio del consumo de drogas, el suministro de drogas, las conductas de inyectarse y en la constitución de redes sociales de mujeres drogadictas. Estos resultados indican que es necesario desarrollar programas basados en la pareja y facilitar grupos formados exclusivamente por mujeres como parte de la prevención del virus del sida.

Keywords:

• injecting drug use
• women
• central Java
• HIV risk
• intimate relationships

Notes

^1. Konco = friend, wingking = back (refers to a kitchen in a Javanese house where the kitchen is usually in the back). It refers to a woman's place – in the kitchen, doing domestic work.

^2. Macak = dress up/ put make up on, masak = cook, manak = give birth – the proverb refers to three women's duties; dressing up, cooking and giving birth.

^3. This proverb means a woman will follow her husband to heaven or hell. Whether she is a good or bad woman depends on her husband.

^4. The New Order (Orde Baru) era is the period of 32 years when Suharto was in power as President for Indonesia. The term itself was coined by the former President himself to distinguish his leadership period from that of his predecessor, Sukarno. Often, New Order was associated as ‘a bureaucratic polity, neo-patrimonial, corporatist, and bureaucratic-authoritarian’ (Suryakusuma 1996, 94). It is also characterised by the strong political power of the military. The downfall of Suharto in 1998 was then referred as Reformation era.

^5. Roughly translated as women's duty.

^6. Briefly, this means confident and conscious surrender to life.

^7. Briefly, this means submitting to someone's fate, but not in a negative or fatalistic way.

^8. Methamphetamine.

^9. Kopdar is an abbreviation of kopi darat, means a social gathering with friends from online social networks, such as mig33 in this case.