ABSTRACT
In South Africa poverty and the unequal distribution of health services had undermined the health and wellbeing of many black people. Within that general picture it is women and children whose health has been severely eroded. Contrary to expectations of a crack down, the government in South Africa is looking at prostitution in a way that acknowledges the human rights of prostitutes in the context of the democratisation of the country. The Task Team's reluctance to recommend mandatory testing for sex workers was based on the recognition that most women are in danger of contracting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The definition of violence includes physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family and in the general community. In South Africa the figures on violence against women are constantly rising. For South African theorists, the increase is explained as an effect of a crisis in masculinity occasioned by a combination of apartheid and capitalism.
