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Are You With Me?
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Audience:
African American Women
Year:
1989
Speech Rate:
153 words/min
Large Words
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This video dramatization focuses on women, AIDS, and condom use. After a friend's sister dies from AIDS, Aiysha struggles with the question of how to protect herself. Evelyn, her mother, tells Aiysha that she cannot know who might be infected and so must protect herself by always using condoms when she has sex. As they discuss negotiating condom use, however, Aiysha discovers that her mother does not use them with her own boyfriend, Charles. Evelyn defensively argues that her situation is "different" because she and her boyfriend "have an understanding" and "don't sleep around." In a tense exchange, Aiysha challenges her mother's double standard, asserting that she cares as much for her mother as her mother cares for her.
The remainder of the video alternates between two scenarios. In one, Aiysha successfully discusses the issue of condom use with her boyfriend. In the second scenario, Evelyn privately struggles with whether or not to bring up the issue of condom use with Charles; this struggle remains unresolved at the conclusion of the video. This video will be useful primarily for stimulating discussion about condom use and partner negotiation with audiences of heterosexually-active African American women. It raises issues associated with negotiating condom use with a partner and encourages women to insist that their partner wear a condom. It emphasizes the importance of condoms for protecting oneself from AIDS, stressing that anyone can be infected without knowing it or revealing any physical symptoms. However, the video dramatizes only one situation in which a woman (Aiysha) asks her partner to use a condom; in that scene, the partner (Jamal) quickly agrees to use a condom. Persuasion strategies are not suggested for women whose partner refuses to wear a condom. Technically, the video is of high quality. The acting is professional and the script is well-written. |
Go to video listings for:
African Americans
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