roups are affected more “in part because of the paralyzing impact of poverty and stigma among these groups, (and) in part because there is no ‘community’ perceived as such, to bind drug users together (Nelkin 19).Although women are a minority, the other minorities associated with this stigma are not only gender related but predisposed based on class, culture and race; even the research involving these minorities focuses again on women as perpetrators of the HIV infection. Social barriers to HIV risk reduction are prevalent in the Hispanic cultures through the concepts of “machismo” for men and “marianismo” for women. The men need to be dominant and experienced, however, the women are required to be dominated and inexperienced. Blacks have other cultural issues that add another concept “man-sharing” to the risk factors surrounding women and Black women have a double minority whammy (Campbell). Not enough eligible men are available due to many of the following social factors: and AIDS, heart disease or Sickle Cell anemia; homicide, jail or prison terms, as well as high rates of drug use and unemployment. Tolerance by Black women of their partners’ other women has developed a situation which may allow Black men to feel less allegiance to a monogamous relationship as their sexual options are seemingly unlimited. These women often fail to reduce the risky behaviors as the necessary life changes may involve real or perceived threats to their economic survival, their relationships as well as their culturally sanctioned roles. Again, this relationship of high-risk behaviors undermines the HIV and AIDS prevention programs available within the minority populace (Campbell).Society needs to concentrate more on the individual than on the illness of the individual. To learn “that one has contracted a fatal illness creates immeasurable psychological distress and markedly change...
