زندگی خارج از اینگونه تشخیصات: خشونت, اچ آی وی و توانمندسازی
متاسفانه از تعداد 300,000 زنانی که با اچ آی وی زندگی می کنند, نیمی از آنان بنوعی مورد تعرض و خشونت جنسی بوسیله همسران خود یا مردان دیگری قرار گرفته اند.
“I never looked at it like I was a person who had experienced domestic violence. I just thought I was a chick who got beat up sometimes.”
Empowered: Women, HIV & Intimate Partner Violence, a short film released by Greater Than AIDS, features five women living with HIV—Gina, Michelle, Maria, Lynnea, and Vickie—who talk about life with the virus and the way it connects with abuse in their relationships.
Initially, explain the women, they saw their relationships as normal, not violent.
Their partners would prey on their self-esteem as women living with HIV by saying things like “you’re lucky to have me.” Childhood experiences of trauma and gender-based violence had also skewed their perspective of what was acceptable and affected their decisions as adults.