Hispanic Women and AIds: Gendered Risk Factors and Clinical Implications

Current theory and research indicate that Hispanic women's increased risk for AIDS is due to sociocultural and psychological factors that are influenced by gender. Hispanic women's low social status limits their ability to negotiate safer sex behaviors for AIDS prevention. Female gender identity, based upon the desire for interpersonal attachment, places Hispanic women at risk for AIDS through a fear of abandonment by male sexual partners who perceive safer sex behaviors as unmasculine. Male sexual partners' beliefs, practices, and behaviors, such as bisexuality and the practice of anal intercourse, increase Hispanic women's AIDS risk. The experience of involuntary sexual encounters and the lack of power to determine sexual behaviors and practices within these encounters also place Hispanic women at risk for AIDS.