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The Inevitability of Infidelity: Sexual Reputation, Social
Geographies, and Marital HIV Risk in Rural Mexico. |
For women
in rural Mexico, marriage presents their single greatest
risk for HIV infection. This paper draws on six months of
participant observation, 20 marital case studies, 37 key
informant interviews, and archival research to explore the
factors that shape married women’s HIV risk. Findings show
that culturally-constructed notions of reputation in this
community lead to sexual behavior designed to minimize men’s
social – rather than viral – risks, and that men’s love for
their wives may actually increase women’s risk. We also
describe the intertwining of reputation with
structurally-patterned socio-sexual geographies. We conclude
by proposing interventions based on sexual geographies and
risky spaces, rather than risky behaviors or identities, and
by underlining the structural nature of men’s extramarital
sexual behavior. |
Pdf 672 kb |
