Ideology and gender relations: a reception study about AIDS prevention campaigns

Abstract

This article refers to a reception research of seven television prevention campaigns, done in South Brazil - Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, with 38 women, ages 18-51 years old, from low-income class. The sample was divided in two groups: women that don't participate in groups that fight against AIDS/HIV and women that participates in groups that fight against AIDS/HIV. Based in a qualitative framework, the Depth Hermeneutic and the Feminist Theory were employed in order to study the ideology and gender relations underneath the campaigns' messages. The results indicate that for both groups of women television is an important source of AIDS related information, although they believe the campaigns do not stimulate the use of condom. While the first group of women agrees and identifies themselves with the majority of messages and images within the campaigns, the second group perceives that behind the messages the voice of the ideology operates, throughout a variety of strategies, to create and to establish relations of domination.