Sexuality in Media: Emerging Issues in Africa - Africa Regional ...

Sexuality in the Media: Emerging Issues in Africa
b. Infertility: Among these articles, were titles such as “production of sperms
and ova from stem cells”; “delivery of a child from a frozen semen for 21
years”, “Tight clothes cause infertility”, “Goodbye to resistant infertility
cases”, “Fast food increases the possibility of having cystic ovaries” (El-Wafd,
9-2-2004). Al-Ahram, 18-5-2004 quoted an expert opinion regarding a “new
method to improve the success rate of the assisted reproductive techniques”.
In fact, what was published are well known facts among specialists in the field.
This raises an ethical question, as this is a tool to publicize the name of the
expert, and it could be considered as an advertisement.
Reduction of weight was the focus of some articles. Among them, one
published by Al-Ahram on 14-5-2004, was about a special diet regime that
helps pregnant and lactating women to reduce their weight. A warning article
that suggested that 35% of Egyptian women suffer from Anemia was
published by Al-Ahram on 27-4-2004.
c. Breastfeeding: Articles on breastfeeding included: “Islam breastfeeding
for two years and it was mentioned 12 times all through the Holy Book”.
“Breastfeeding protects against heart diseases” (Al-Ahram, El-Messay 15-5-
2004 and El-Akhbar on 22-5-2004); “Breastfeeding reduces blood pressure”
(El-Wafd, 15-5-2004 and El-Messaa, 20-5-2004); “The first free clinic for
breastfeeding in Alexanderia”. El-Wafd, 26-1-2004 published an article
suggesting that breastfeeding protects children from overweight. An
educative article was published by Al-Ahram about the value of breastfeeding
for increasing the immunity of the newborn on 28-4-2004.
d. Breast Cancer: Articles on breast cancer included: “New drugs for breast
cancer”, “one egg daily protects adolescents from breast cancer ” (El-Akhbar,
11-4-2004),and “New drug” was also published by Al-Ahram, on 16-3-2004.
Another new drug was published by El-Messaa on 17.3.2004; “New method
for detection of breast cancer” (Al-Ahram, 14-4-2004). “Direct exposure to
radiation increases breast cancer”, “Protection of girls against breast cancer by
food” (Al-Ahram, 19-5-2004), “Increase in weight is associated with the risk
of having breast cancer (Al-Ahram-El Messaae on 3-3-2004) were other
titles. Al-Ahram on 2-3-2004 published a long article quoting an expert
opinion suggesting that giving chemotherapy before surgery increases the
Print Media Coverage Of Sexuality Issues in Egypt
probability of cure. In this article, the expert assured Egyptian women that
cancer treatment in Egypt is similar in its results with that in Western
countries. Al-Akhbar on 18-2-2004 published an article quoting the American
Medical Association Journal suggesting that “Taking much of antibiotics
would lead to breast cancer ”. Al-Ahram, 5-4-2004 published an article about
“breast mice”, which is a tumor, which is mostly benign. In this article was a
quote from an expert assuring women and girls from the age of 15-30 about the
benign nature of the tumor.
e. Abortion: “A protein is responsible about abortion” was the headline of a
story in (El-Wafd, 21-1-2004 and Al-Ahram, on 27-3-2004). The same article
was published in EL-Wafd on 16-3-2004 (after one and a half months). Al-
Ahram, on 18-2-2004 suggested that “15% of all pregnancies end in abortion”.
El-Wafd, on 16-2-2004 published an informative article on habitual abortion
and how to manage it.
The Use of Cartoons
The majority of the newspapers publish cartoons that address some
reproductive health issues. One was published by EL-Wafd on 21-1-2004, a
cartoon depicting the increase in population. Another one published by the
same newspaper on 7-2-2004 that addresses the impact of cellular phones on
men's fertility. Al-Akbar addressed the population problem in one cartoon on
29-3-2004 and another on 7-4-2004. Another one was published in El-
Gomhorrea on 12-3-2004 which highlighted the value of family planning
programmes. A cartoon that addresses a new method of contraceptives in form
of chewing gums was published by EL-Wafd on 14-5-2004.
Summary and Conclusion
The research findings show that newspapers are considered the least of the
media sources for information on sexuality and reproductive health. One
plausible cause could be the nature of the articles in the newspapers. Mostly, as
shown from the findings, are not informative, not complete and in some cases
incorrect. They are mainly news about conferences, meetings, workshops,
programmes and training workshops.