Jamaica
First-Ever Legal Challenge to Jamaica’s Anti-Gay Laws
by Jodi Jacobson, Editor in Chief, RH Reality Check
October 26, 2011 - 12:33pm (Print)
AIDS-Free World has presented a first-ever legal challenge to Jamaica's anti-gay laws, by filing a petition at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of two gay men whose names are being withheld to protect their safety.
Follow Jodi Jacobson on Twitter, @jljacobson
Jamaica's Flawed Abortion Laws
by Danielle Toppin, RH Reality Check, Caribbean
March 28, 2008 - 8:44am (Print)
Illegal abortions are one of the top ten causes of maternal death in Jamaica. Safe, legal abortions are only accessible to those who can afford one. Existing abortion "common law" in Jamaica is ambiguous and differs than legislation on the books. Jamaica is in the midst of a heated abortion debate.
Lost in Translation
by Danielle Toppin, RH Reality Check, Caribbean
June 7, 2007 - 7:45am (Print)
Jamaica has put measures in place to support the Convention on the Rights of the Child and protect children from sexual abuse, but cultural issues must be addressed in addition to legal reform.
Gender Dynamics of Reproductive Health Policies
by Danielle Toppin, RH Reality Check, Caribbean
May 22, 2007 - 7:45am (Print)
In the area of reproductive and sexual health, accommodations must be made to take account of the impact of gender socialisation and the ways in which it shapes the sexual identities.
Changing Views on Adolescent Sexuality
by Danielle Toppin, RH Reality Check, Caribbean
April 25, 2007 - 7:50am (Print)
In the Caribbean, views are slowly changing from conservative attitudes to more positive understanding of healthy adolescent sexuality. Educating teenagers honestly will empower them to make wise decisions.
Becoming a Woman through Motherhood
by Danielle Toppin, RH Reality Check, Caribbean
April 17, 2007 - 7:50am (Print)
Editor's Note: Today we welcome Danielle Toppin, writing from Jamaica. She has experience with gender and development, and will be covering reproductive health issues in the Caribbean and Latin America.
On November 4, 2004, I discovered that I was pregnant. In that moment, my life began to change. The ways in which I saw myself; and in which society perceived me shifted. It was as though I had finally fulfilled my role as a woman. I had proven my worthiness.
In the Caribbean context, ideas of motherhood are inextricably linked with ideas of womanhood. In Barbados, meanings are attached to fertile and infertile female bodies; with value being attached to those women who reproduce, and withheld from those women who, either by choice or by nature, do not. Mothering has become synonymous with "becoming a woman", achieving an almost mythical status as the natural path that women's lives should take.
