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HIV Is My “Best” Problem: Living with Racism, HIV and Interpersonal Violence

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Women, Motherhood and Living with HIV/AIDS

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Abstract

Gender-based violence is a problem for women around the world. Although HIV/AIDS and interpersonal violence (IPV) have been studied extensively as separate entities, the connection between the two has received less attention than might be warranted. We argue that studying HIV/AIDS and IPV as intersecting issues is essential in understanding women’s experiences of either or both, and the results have implications for health policy. Through telling her story of living with HIV and IPV, an Aboriginal woman reveals a life where gender-based violence took place in the context of a history of colonialism and marginalization of her people. HIV was a much easier issue to discuss than the violence she had experienced in her life. Using a socioecological framework to interpret her story revealed that relationships with her children were just one casualty of intersecting oppressions. Services tended to treat either HIV or IPV but never to see her as whole person. The experience of surviving HIV/AIDS and IPV on a day-to-day basis negatively impacted her life and created a cycle of abuse, including self-abuse, which was difficult to escape. The results demonstrate the intertwined relationships of HIV/AIDS and IPV and factors at the personal, interpersonal, community and environmental levels that impact this relationship. The value of culturally safe approaches to care for HIV/AIDS is highlighted in this chapter.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Aboriginal is used to include First Nations, Inuit and Métis ancestry in Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 249 Citadel PT NW, Calgary, AB, T3G 5L2, Canada

    Josephine Mazonde

  2. Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary Institute for Gender Research, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N1, Canada

    Wilfreda (Billie) Thurston

  3. Department of Ecosystems and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary Institute for Gender Research, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N1, Canada

    Wilfreda (Billie) Thurston

Authors
  1. Josephine Mazonde
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  2. Wilfreda (Billie) Thurston
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Correspondence to Josephine Mazonde .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, La Trobe University School of Public Health, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia

    Pranee Liamputtong

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Mazonde, J., Thurston, W.(. (2013). HIV Is My “Best” Problem: Living with Racism, HIV and Interpersonal Violence. In: Liamputtong, P. (eds) Women, Motherhood and Living with HIV/AIDS. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5887-2_13

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