Department slammed over advert slogan

“WHO says girls don’t want to be on top?”

That is the slogan in a Department of Health initiative to fight HIV infections in South Africa‚ used on a “She Conquers” campaign billboard which has caused outrage.

Eve Dmochowska‚ a Johannesburg resident‚ complained on Facebook that the tagline was sexually suggestive. “It’s disgusting‚ degrading and completely unacceptable‚” she wrote.

“Must I explain to my 15-year-old daughter what her government means when it questions why she ‘doesn’t want to be on top’?

“Must I explain to her that in actual fact she really ‘does’ want to be on top‚ and why she deserves to be on top‚ and why she CAN be on top – because we are talking about her future‚ and not a sex position?” wrote Dmochowska.

She said that she intended laying a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority.

However‚ Dr Yogan Pillay‚ deputy director-general for the HIV‚ TB‚ and maternal and child health programmes at the department, said the campaign was anything but a sexual reference.

“Why would we want to encourage reckless sexual behaviour?” he said.

Pillay said the billboards were part of the department’s campaign to break the cycle of HIV infections‚ decrease teenage pregnancies‚ raise awareness and decrease the amount of sexual violence against girls and young women and keep people in school.

“It’s actually a very positive message focusing on schooling. It’s not about sex‚” Pillay said.

However‚ Dmochowska and others who commented on her Facebook post were not convinced.

“Really? Must we‚ as women‚ always bear the burden of sexual innuendo? Is it conceivable that the very institutions which are set up to prevent this discrimination don’t know themselves how to avoid it?” she wrote.

Shawn Graaff‚ who also commented on the post‚ said: “This is despicable. It’s one thing if it was advertising targeted at adults‚ but they’re communicating to underage girls!”