Aids, drugs and “to be a woman”

some HIV seropositive women’s reports

Abstract

Face to the subprivileged status and the social vulnerability of the women, were interviewed ten women who are carrier of HIV/aids and user of injected drugs, and were attended at Infectious Diseases Treatment Special Unit at the Clinical Hospital of the Medicine Faculty of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo. Semi-structured interviews focused “a priori” thematic categories and were complemented by reports about stories of life. A content analysis allowed the raising of some representations about the themes wich were focused: a) for being a woman, were identified contents related to the feminine vulnerability to HIV, the naturalization of the woman’s role and the resistance to subordination; b) for to live with HIV/aids, appeared contents related to the banalization of contagion, stigma, social/material losses, reconstructions and adverse feelings; c) related to being an injected drugs user, appeared representations about the reality escape, dependency and negative valorizations related to helplessness. Such results are discussed aiming the perspective of subsidize the orientation of future orientative and supportive programmes, considerating the feminine vulnerability, mainly to the use of illegal drugs and HIV/aids contagious..