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Voices from the Unheard: Perceptions of HIV among Middle Class Black Women in Atlanta
Author(s) -
Heath Corliss D.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
transforming anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.325
H-Index - 9
eISSN - 1548-7466
pISSN - 1051-0559
DOI - 10.1111/traa.12072
Subject(s) - atlanta , gender studies , middle class , ethnic group , population , ethnography , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , demography , risk perception , perception , sociology , gerontology , psychology , social psychology , medicine , political science , metropolitan area , family medicine , anthropology , neuroscience , law , pathology
Abstract Black women have higher HIV risk than women of other ethnic groups. While literature on Black women and HIV risk is extensive, it mostly focuses on “traditional risk groups” like low‐income, low‐education, or drug users. Little research exists on HIV risk in college‐educated, middle class women. Based on ethnographic research in Atlanta, Georgia, this study explores middle class Black women's HIV risk perceptions, knowledge, and sexual behaviors. Using a womanist framework, this article explains how race, gender, and class interact to shape HIV risk in this underrepresented population. Some middle class Black women perceive their HIV risk as low based on social status, whereas structural factors related to Black women living in urban settings weaken the protective influence of class and increases HIV risk. Research findings inform prevention strategies for Black women who fall outside “traditional risk groups” and contributes to our knowledge of anthropological HIV research.