AN EXERCISE IN WORLDMAKING 2009 - ISS

15 Reimagining Reproductive Health Interventions 179
The songs served as a major catalyst in the process of reconstructing
meanings of what being a man or a woman signifies in our society, opening
up the space for participants to express themselves by providing an artistic
medium to which they could relate their ideas and feelings (Adrião et
al. 2002: 207).
The important part about this intervention is that it eventually belongs
to the participants who are not only singing and playing music but
through dialogue and education are reconstructing their own histories
and identities. Once reflection has begun, sexual attitudes and risky behavior
that are directly tied to social norms related to manhood can begin
to be transformed.
Effective interventions like those of Papai’s seek to help men understand
how gender norms affect them, how norms about what it means to
be ‘real men’ are harmful to women but also to men. According to MenEngage
Alliance, an NGO also located in Brazil, it is incredibly important
that programs give men and boys the opportunity to build the
communication and negotiations skills necessary to change behaviors,
such as having a sense of self-efficacy that allows them to question gender
norms, negotiate with partners, question peer groups, and seek services
for themselves (Ricardo & Barker 2008: 33). Successful interventions
must have a wide spectrum at their core in order that gender
inequalities are challenged and behavior transformed into those, which
enable healthy sexual and reproductive behaviors to be practiced and
sustained.
LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE OF SRH RIGHTS FOR MEN, WOMEN
AND CHILDREN
There are many gaps in SRH programming, most particularly the absence
of men as participants in research and interventions. Since the shift
in thinking in Cairo and the explicit attention to involving men in SRH,
research methodology has changed to include men and also to include
more qualitative research taking into consideration power hierarchies and
gender inequalities. There is now a general consensus about the importance
of transforming gender relations and masculinities among programs
whose interventions deliberately target gender inequalities with an
ultimate aim at the realization of SRH rights by men, women, and children.
Advocates for SRH rights have come a long way in appealing to
the wider realm of national politicians in charge of finance and govern-