Women living with HIV/AIDS have long forged health and wellness in the face of profoundly violent conditions. At the core, all of the interview excerpts collected here address the idea that individual decisions or choices are never made outside of a larger context and rarely made freely. The women describe a complex set of constraints placed on them by institutions big and small. But they refuse to be silent in the face of attempts to control them: through their ordinary and extraordinary actions they resist. In this compendium of women’s voices, listen for how they describe making a way out of no way. Consider how their resilience functions as a response to systems that have abandoned them, at best, or sought to destroy them, at worst. Recognize the worlds of well-being they have manifested.
Health care, as it is talked about here, is most likely found in the various institutions that are designed to make people well or treat them when they are sick. Women mention hospitals and clinics, where they find some combination of relief for what ails them and grief as women who are too often disenfranchised. Sometimes the care they receive is for how HIV/AIDS affects them, sometimes it is to aid in recovery for addictions, sometimes it eases pain in their aging bodies. Health care institutions have also hurt women by failing to see that medicine is not always sufficient to ensure they are well.
Health care, as it is talked about here, is most likely found in the various institutions that are designed to make people well or treat them when they are sick. Women mention hospitals and clinics, where they find some combination of relief for what ails them and grief as women who are too often disenfranchised. Sometimes the care they receive is for how HIV/AIDS affects them, sometimes it is to aid in recovery for addictions, sometimes it eases pain in their aging bodies. Health care institutions have also hurt women by failing to see that medicine is not always sufficient to ensure they are well.
Health care, as it is talked about here, is most likely found in the various institutions that are designed to make people well or treat them when they are sick. Women mention hospitals and clinics, where they find some combination of relief for what ails them and grief as women who are too often disenfranchised. Sometimes the care they receive is for how HIV/AIDS affects them, sometimes it is to aid in recovery for addictions, sometimes it eases pain in their aging bodies. Health care institutions have also hurt women by failing to see that medicine is not always sufficient to ensure they are well.
Family dynamics is defined loosely as how family members—blood or chosen—function in relation to one another. The women we interviewed, to a person, reflected on how their families affected, over time, the women they became. They detailed the painful paradox of families, which have the potential to hold love between people at the same time that they fuel interpersonal violence. The state or government also plays a role in family dynamics, especially as it adjudicates how women, especially when they are mothers, are supposed to act in relation to their kin.
Family dynamics is defined loosely as how family members—blood or chosen—function in relation to one another. The women we interviewed, to a person, reflected on how their families affected, over time, the women they became. They detailed the painful paradox of families, which have the potential to hold love between people at the same time that they fuel interpersonal violence. The state or government also plays a role in family dynamics, especially as it adjudicates how women, especially when they are mothers, are supposed to act in relation to their kin.
Family dynamics is defined loosely as how family members—blood or chosen—function in relation to one another. The women we interviewed, to a person, reflected on how their families affected, over time, the women they became. They detailed the painful paradox of families, which have the potential to hold love between people at the same time that they fuel interpersonal violence. The state or government also plays a role in family dynamics, especially as it adjudicates how women, especially when they are mothers, are supposed to act in relation to their kin.
Receiving health care at hospitals and clinics is distinct from taking charge of your own health. When the women narrators talk about how they manage their own wellness and healing—sometimes despite health care providers, sometimes in conjunction with them—we can begin to see their commitment to their own wellbeing. They are the experts of their own lives and best able to name what they need to survive and possibly thrive in a world that does not consistently see them as deserving of health.
Receiving health care at hospitals and clinics is distinct from taking charge of your own health. When the women narrators talk about how they manage their own wellness and healing—sometimes despite health care providers, sometimes in conjunction with them—we can begin to see their commitment to their own wellbeing. They are the experts of their own lives and best able to name what they need to survive and possibly thrive in a world that does not consistently see them as deserving of health.
Receiving health care at hospitals and clinics is distinct from taking charge of your own health. When the women narrators talk about how they manage their own wellness and healing—sometimes despite health care providers, sometimes in conjunction with them—we can begin to see their commitment to their own wellbeing. They are the experts of their own lives and best able to name what they need to survive and possibly thrive in a world that does not consistently see them as deserving of health.
Just as women have always worked, the women narrators whose stories are shared here have worked in every way imaginable. They have struggled to secure their livelihoods as well as those of their children and families. They have worked in factories and offices, on street corners and at hospitals. They have been fired and harassed, and still many recount the joy they get from working.
Just as women have always worked, the women narrators whose stories are shared here have worked in every way imaginable. They have struggled to secure their livelihoods as well as those of their children and families. They have worked in factories and offices, on street corners and at hospitals. They have been fired and harassed, and still many recount the joy they get from working.
Just as women have always worked, the women narrators whose stories are shared here have worked in every way imaginable. They have struggled to secure their livelihoods as well as those of their children and families. They have worked in factories and offices, on street corners and at hospitals. They have been fired and harassed, and still many recount the joy they get from working.
Here the women discuss their faith, belief systems and religious ideals that keep them grounded and healthy. They describe how their churches and faith function in their everyday lives. Most of the women interviewed for this project find deep and abiding comfort and safety in their religious and spiritual practices. Whether describing what it has meant for them to be delivered or a child of God, their faith is key to how they survive and thrive as women living with HIV/AIDS.
Here the women discuss their faith, belief systems and religious ideals that keep them grounded and healthy. They describe how their churches and faith function in their everyday lives. Most of the women interviewed for this project find deep and abiding comfort and safety in their religious and spiritual practices. Whether describing what it has meant for them to be delivered or a child of God, their faith is key to how they survive and thrive as women living with HIV/AIDS.
Here the women discuss their faith, belief systems and religious ideals that keep them grounded and healthy. They describe how their churches and faith function in their everyday lives. Most of the women interviewed for this project find deep and abiding comfort and safety in their religious and spiritual practices. Whether describing what it has meant for them to be delivered or a child of God, their faith is key to how they survive and thrive as women living with HIV/AIDS.
Women living with HIV/AIDS regularly make a way out of no way, whether by keeping their families together or providing support to members of their communities. They persist for their children and grandchildren, while regularly insisting that their lives matter and that they deserve love and care.