Common Sense About AIDS: HIV/AIDS and the young minority woman
HIV/AIDS and the young minority woman
Here’s what you need to know!
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Young women of color suffer high rates of HIV infection, with 76% of the total AIDS cases among women happening to African-American and Latina women, according to statistics collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. Here are some of the facts from the CDC and Advocates for Youth of Washington, DC, about young women of color and HIV/AIDS risk:
• African-Americans and Latinos accounted for 61% of all AIDS cases through 1996 among people ages 20-24 in the United States. Also, 76% of all AIDS cases among women were in African-American and Latina women.
• About 11% of African-American female high school students reported having sexual intercourse before age 13, compared to 3% of white females. And over 65% of African-American female high school students had sex by the 12th grade, while among white females 44% reported having sex by the 12th grade.
• Of sexually active high school students, 41% of African-American females and 60% of Latina females reported not using condoms at their last sexual intercourse.
• Among sexually active female high school students, 25% of African-American females and 10% of Latina females recently reported four or more lifetime sexual partners.
• Research indicates that older male sexual partners present a greater HIV transmission risk than adolescent male sexual partners because they are more likely to have multiple sexual partners and drug use experiences and to be infected with HIV.
• Nearly half of all women who were infected with HIV by having unprotected sex with an injection drug user or a bisexual male are African-American.
• Females ages 15-19 years had the highest rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia in 1996, and African-American females in that age group had a gonorrhea rate that was 24 times higher on average than white women of the same age.
If you are going to have unprotected sexual intercourse, then you need to know certain facts, such as who is at risk and why. Quanita Favorite, a peer educator at Advocates for Youth in Washington, DC, offers the following advice and information:
Q: What if my lover doesn’t want to talk about sex?
A: Many of us sistas find talking about sex difficult. Our partners may get angry or defensive. They sometimes feel that we are accusing them of something or that we don’t trust them. Talking is especially hard when a young woman has an older partner because the older partner tends to have more power in the relationship. Often, we look to the older partner for information about protection against pregnancy and HIV and may get wrong information. An older partner usually has more sexual experience and is more likely than the younger partner to have prior experience with illegal substances. Both of these factors increase the older partner’s risk of being infected with HIV and put the younger partner, too, at risk.
Q: Didn’t the government create HIV in the first place?
A: Some of us disassociate ourselves from HIV/AIDS. We may choose not to talk about the epidemic because we believe the government created HIV to get rid of African-Americans. The truth is no one really knows where or how HIV first infected people. What we do know is that it exists and that there are ways to prevent infection.
Q: How can I ask my lover about his past girlfriends?
A: Many people — both male and female — feel that their past sexual relationships are not the business of their current sexual partner. Someone who feels this way might say, "You weren’t in the picture then. What we need to do is concentrate on us and the present."
Does this sound familiar? Okay, reality check! When we have unprotected sex with a partner, we are having sex with everyone the partner has had unprotected sex with. Think about it!
Don’t let your fear of how a partner might react stop you from talking with him/her. Be assertive! When a partner does not want to discuss sexual histories, we can’t just let the subject end there. We must make sure he/she knows that the relationship won’t work if we can’t communicate. We won’t know where we’re going unless we know where we’ve been!
Q: I think my lover uses drugs. Could this cause AIDS?
A: Many people tend to forget that HIV is also transmitted through sharing needles. In fact, the No. 1 route of HIV infection for African-American women is having unprotected intercourse with an injection drug user. We need to know whether our partners use or have ever used drugs. We also need to keep in mind that being under the influence of alcohol or other drugs impairs reason and judgment. So, using substances may also impair our ability to protect ourselves. Alcohol and other drugs don’t mix well with safer sex!
Q: Somebody said you can get AIDS from a tattoo. Is this true?
A: Possibly. Tattoos and body piercings also require needles. Ensure that the person performing the work sterilizes all of his/her equipment, uses disposable needles, and is licensed.
Q: Why should I worry? My lover sleeps only with me.
A: When a relationship begins, we may assume that it’s monogamous. We shouldn’t assume anything! We need to talk with our partner about expectations for the relationship and discuss what monogamy means to each of us. Surveys show that when monogamy is not discussed and a partner cheats, the cheating partner tends to justify him/herself because the couple set no ground rules. Many people contract an STD when a partner has unprotected sex with someone outside of the relationship.
So we need to communicate to our partner our feelings about infidelity. If we have zero tolerance for cheating, we should communicate to our partner that infidelity will end the relationship. We also need to make clear to our partner that a main concern about infidelity is protecting the health of both partners. Being a good listener means letting a partner know that we hear, understand, and care about what he/she is saying and feeling. If you suspect your man is cheating, arguing won’t help. The situation calls for calm, clear discussion. If we can’t discuss the situation calmly, we can set another time to talk.
Q: Where can I get more information about HIV?
A. Try these resources:
- Web site: www.mysistahs.org
- Web site: www.rightsrespectresponsibility.org
- Web site: http://whatudo.org
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA. Web site: www.cdc.gov
- Advocates for Youth in Washington, DC. Web site: www.advocatesforyouth.org. Telephone: (202) 347-5700. E-mail: [email protected]
- Center for Adolescent Health and the Law in Chapel Hill, NC. Web site: www.adolescenthealthlaw.org. Telephone: (919) 968-8850
- Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) information: (800) 227-8922
- STD information and referral with prerecorded information: (800) 653-4325
- Substance abuse information: (800) 252-6465
- Hotlines if you are homeless: (800) 999-9999 or (800) 231-6946
- National AIDS information line: (800) 342-2437
- AIDS hotline for teens: (800) 234-8336
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