And he has a lot going for him: multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships, unsafe and risky sexual practices, people not knowing their HIV status ... and because people don’t know who their previous lovers have slept with.
Intersexions is co-produced by Curious Pictures and Ants Multimedia, in partnership with Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA) and SABC Education, with funding from USAID and PEPFAR.
It has consisted of 26 episodes: 25 separate but interlinked stories reflecting all facets of South African life, and a final, hour-long documentary that examines the spread of HIV throughout the human sexual network described in the series.
The documentary finale, screened last night, takes an unusual tack: it gives voice to HIV, who has been silent throughout the series. And HIV is a smooth, calculating, undercover operator, who chuckles evilly at people who take chances with their lives – and bitterly resents those who thwart him by practising safe sex, knowing their HIV status and staying in monogamous relationships.
HIV simply loves characters like Duma the truck driver and Ike Molete the teacher, who move in several sexual circles, do not consistently practise safe sex and spread the virus from one group to the other. And he also loves married women, the most vulnerable group of all, because they are often not in a position to negotiate safe sex with their wayward husbands.
One of his biggest allies is the 'window period' – the six weeks after someone is infected, when the virus cannot be detected but is most infectious as it rapidly multiplies in the body. Conversely, he hates antiretroviral drugs, because they not only give HIV-positive people their strength back, they make it more difficult for the disease to spread.
Finally, HIV stands the viewer’s conception of how the infection chain progressed on its head, showing that very often one cannot make assumptions about who infected whom.
The series began with DJ Mo dying of AIDS-related complications, and the inference is that he is the reason why Lindi is HIV-positive, and therefore her lover Kabelo as well – not to mention causing an infection domino effect through the series. But, asks HIV, what if Kabelo actually infected Lindi, who in turn infected DJ Mo?
“HIV has been the silent character of Intersexions all along. He’s been there throughout, skulking in the shadows and striking without prejudice at the careless, the ignorant and the unsuspecting. Many of the series’ characters simply never realised he was there.
“With this documentary episode, we are forcing him out into the open, exposing him and what he does to close scrutiny. And being the centre of attention is what he hates the most, because it stymies his lethal agenda,” says Lusanda Mahlasela, of JHHESA.
“That, ultimately, is what
Intersexions as a series has done; it has brought the issue of HIV/AIDS into the light, in ways that have been accessible to millions of South Africans, using powerful stories to which they can relate.
“And South Africans have responded so positively to
Intersexions. Within a month of it going on air, it was this country’s second-most popular programme across all genres, and fans picked up on its messages and spontaneously propagated them on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
“If nothing else, that tells us clearly that people heard what Intersexions has had to say, and felt sufficiently strongly about it to tell others – and in the real world, that means HIV will find it much more difficult to carry out his nefarious purpose,” says Mahlasela.
For
Intersexions Producer, Karima Effendi, of Curious Pictures, last night’s documentary episode marks the conclusion of a complex and challenging creative journey.
“
Intersexions has been one of the most ambitious television series ever created in South Africa. We have had an enormous cast, six directors, shoots literally all over the country – from rural settings to informal settlements to glitzy Sandton, and a complicated series structure.
“But it has also been a labour of love for everyone connected with Intersexions; this shines through in every aspect of the production, from the wonderful stories and striking dramatic performances to the series’ superior technical quality.
“Every person in the filmmaking industry strives to create something that will captivate and entertain audiences. But when that creative output also puts across a message that saves lives and it is taken up across all audience, racial, economic and age categories, then it is truly something special. And
Intersexions has achieved exactly that,” says Effendi.