"I thought we are safe": southern African lesbians' experiences of living with HIV

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dc.date.accessioned 2013-06-06 en
dc.date.accessioned 2022-08-17T17:41:25Z
dc.date.available 2022-08-17T17:41:25Z
dc.date.issued 2015-08-25 en
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/2937
dc.description.abstract HIV-prevention and service programmes have long either ignored or overlooked lesbians. The experiences of lesbians with HIV have similarly been unrecognised and unreported. This erasure has contributed to the invisibility of lesbians in relation to HIV and related health risks. This community participatory study, based on in-depth interviews with 24 self-identifying African lesbians living with HIV in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, focuses on their personal experiences and circumstances. Women's experiences shed light and challenge popular notions around lesbian risk. In particular among this group are lesbians who self-report exclusive sexual relationships with women. For these women, experiences of living with HIV are challenging as they struggle to understand the possibility of female-to-female transmission. While battling with their own perceptions of invulnerability and accepting their HIV-positive status, they have to deal also with wide-ranging misconceptions about risk. The paper argues that within the context of HIV, lesbians cannot be regarded as a 'no-risk' group. Health services and health providers are encouraged to respond to the health needs of lesbians living with HIV. en
dc.format.medium Print en
dc.subject SOUTHERN AFRICA en
dc.subject LESBIANS en
dc.subject HIV/AIDS en
dc.title "I thought we are safe": southern African lesbians' experiences of living with HIV en
dc.type Journal Article en
dc.ProjectNumber N/A en
dc.Volume 15(S1) en
dc.BudgetYear 2013/14 en
dc.ResearchGroup Human and Social Development en
dc.SourceTitle Culture, Health & Sexuality en
dc.ArchiveNumber 7766 en
dc.PageNumber 34-47 en
dc.outputnumber 6416 en
dc.bibliographictitle Matebeni, Z., Reddy, V., Sandfort, T. & Southey-Swartz, I. (2013) "I thought we are safe": southern African lesbians' experiences of living with HIV. Culture, Health & Sexuality. 15(S1):34-47. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/2937 en
dc.publicationyear 2013 en
dc.contributor.author1 Matebeni, Z. en
dc.contributor.author2 Reddy, V. en
dc.contributor.author3 Sandfort, T. en
dc.contributor.author4 Southey-Swartz, I. en


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