Why is it so difficult to talk about the sexuality and pleasure of the poor? In many development policies sexuality has been seen as an instrument for birth control, framing and limiting the terms of its perceived linkages with economic growth and poverty.
AIDS issues have subsequently prompted the inclusion in this frame of sexuality and pleasure as ‘risk factors’ for people’s health and well-being. Compounding this narrow focus, issues related to sexual rights have been seen and treated as additional to the ‘real’ and ‘important matters’ of housing, education, employment, etc. As a result, despite their circulation in development discourse, sexual rights have rarely been translated into specific and clear policies.