Sexually Transmitted Diseases :: Essays Papers

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Perhaps the most prominently clashing border in the world is where the world’s super power lays beside a depressed country. The United States and Mexico has formed a very unique border culture where opposites must live together. The border stretching nearly two thousand miles is increasing in growth causing the already prevalent problems of drought, unemployment, pollution and peso devaluation only to engrave themselves deeper into Mexican culture. Now sexually transmitted diseases have added to the complicated web along the border. Sexually transmitted diseases are a threat that faces women of any ethnicity. Even with the increasing number of the various forms of contraception, venereal diseases are still abundant. In the United States, awareness programs implemented in schools and health clinics have produced an increase in having protected sex and therefore a decrease in sexually transmitted diseases. The success has been phenomenal and it has been proven that educat ion is the key for a healthier population. Unfortunately, Mexico has taken nearly the opposite effect. Faced with economic depression, Mexican women are battling teen pregnancy, venereal diseases and HIV infection at an alarmingly higher rate than the U.S. Mexican women have a lack of resources to help them understand the diseases, sexual awareness programs are scarce and ignorance is to blame. Ultimately, it narrows on two causes: the fact that Mexico is poverty-stricken and the cultural beliefs concerning condom use and family planning. The epitome of the American super power versus Mexican’s depressant state is the formation of the maquiladoras in Mexico. Maquiladoras are â€Å"American owned plants that depend on the nimble fingers for rapid assembly of parts that are shipped back to the U.S. (Carnegie Corporation 2)." Parts such as toys, sunglasses, garage door openers are assembled daily. It is advantageous for the U.S. because tiny, cumbersome, tedious work is accomplished by cheap labor. It can be argued that it is advantageous for Mexico as well in the sense that it provides thousands of jobs, but women in the maquilas are sexually harassed, depressed and taken advantaged of. While this report does not focus on the maquiladoras, their behavior must be examined because it is these factories that define and represent the border. Generally, maquila workers have less education, averaging a total of 7.3 schooling years, a low income, averaging $1.