Gendered Responses to Living With AIDS

This chapter examines how HIV-positive men and women in Rwanda delay HIV testing and continue to practice unprotected sex long after their diagnoses. The findings reveal that some HIV-positive women continue to engage in sex work to bring in additional money when their husbands are not able to work, and after their husbands die. The result also indicates that some HIV-positive men continue to have sex with sex workers even after their diagnosis. The differences in responses among men and women to living with HIV/AIDS can also be explained by the interplay of imbalanced family, sexual, and...

This chapter examines how HIV-positive men and women in Rwanda delay HIV testing and continue to practice unprotected sex long after their diagnoses. The findings reveal that some HIV-positive women continue to engage in sex work to bring in additional money when their husbands are not able to work, and after their husbands die. The result also indicates that some HIV-positive men continue to have sex with sex workers even after their diagnosis. The differences in responses among men and women to living with HIV/AIDS can also be explained by the interplay of imbalanced family, sexual, and friendship dynamics and unequal access to resources.