Boys are not taught to be caregivers and they are not taught to be fathers. Too often they are encouraged to believe that their sexuality and promiscuous sexual behaviour are a measure of their manhood. Boys are not taught survival skills the way girls are. In the absence of this training, they depend heavily on the women in their lives, but they are unhappy about it. While they have internalized the ideology of male dominance, they resent their dependence on women.
Unemployed men are economically dependent on women.
Their feelings of depression and inferiority in this situation are manifested in repeated abuse of the women in their lives. This abuse can be both physical and psychological. It is significant that in Jamaica there are more heterosexual men with HIV than any other seropositive group. This situation has serious implications for women who engage in unprotected sex. Currently, the number of women infected with HIV is rapidly increasing.