Biblical Ethics, HIV/AIDS, and South African Pentecostal Women: Constructing an A-B-C-D Prevention Strategy

This essay shows how South African Pentecostal teachings about sexuality, particularly HIV prevention and divorce, constrain women’s real and imagined choices. Institutional Review Board–approved fieldwork revealed the prevalence of wives remaining faithful to unfaithful husbands despite high risks of physical abuse and HIV infection. Maintaining the “ideal” of abstinence and faithfulness, male pastors actively oppose condom use and emphasize that “God hates divorce” (Mal. 2:16). In this essay I engage and resist such hermeneutics. Using scripture as source and norm, I construct an A-B-C-D prevention strategy to enhance women’s freedom: Abstain, Be faithful, use Condoms, or Divorce.