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The purpose of this article is to examine the ways in which race, class, and gender coalesce to heighten Hiv risk among low-income black women. I use 50 qualitative interviews with low-income black women living in metropolitan Atlanta communities to explore how social determinants resulting from race, class, and gender (e.g., education, employment, housing, etc.) impact their Hiv risk. The results suggest that there is an interlocking relationship between gender, race, and class that increases low-income black womens exposure to Hiv. Recommendations for Hrv policies are discussed.
INTRODUCTION
According to CDC, black communities continue to experience higher rates of Hiv/ AIDS than any other group in the United States (U.S.) (CDC, 2011). Black women, despite representing only 13% of the female U.S. population, make up 72% of the female Hiv/ AIDS cases (CDC, 2008). In 2006, the rate of new Hiv infection for black women was nearly 15 times as high as that of white women and nearly 4 times that of Hispanic/Latina women (Prejean et ah, 2011). Research shows that there are socio-economic, historic, and cultural factors that place black women at increased risk of Hiv. This is especially true for black women living in economically depressed urban communities who encounter numerous gender specific stressors including, limited safe housing options, marginal employment opportunities, inadequate resources, geographic and emotional isolation, high rates of sexual trauma, victimization, and fewer eligible men (Boonstra, 2007). When compared to women living in more affluent communities, women in distressed urban communities were more likely to experience multiple risk factors including drinking, early sexual initiation, and multiple childbirths (Coker et al., 2000). These patterns tend to shape personal and community-level behaviors that place black women at increased risk of Hiv infection (Roche et al., 2006).
This study explores how social determinants related to race, class, and gender influence Hiv risk among low-income black women by examining the effect of their living conditions and its impact on their sexual decision-making. The significance of this research question is that it departs from conventional research that typically uses quantitative approaches to identify correlational relationships between these variables. While these types of studies are informative they typically use secondary datasets. While these studies use large numbers of variables and yield strong correlations, they...