GWS related event: women living with HIV
I went to the exhibition women living with HIV. 14 Chicago women with HIV were interviewed and their stories told. All of them participate in the Women’s Interagency HIV study (WIHS) where they got HIV treatment and often found support. Every women has an assigned sign in the exhibition to mark comments, stories and sometimes even pictures. The women tell the audience how they got the disease, found out, live with it now and how it changed them. In addition to that, there are a lot of information about infection rates and how treatment for women has changed over the years. Before 1988, HIV was widely considered a disease mostly men, gay men, had. And while numbers of infected men were peaking, very few women were diagnosed and treated and “suffered disproportionately”. Since then, treatment has radically improved and there are also more foundations to help (women).
Many of the 14 women were hiding their diagnosis from their families, but very often it gave them the push they needed to fight for their own lives. Some of them got clean after being diagnosed to fight HIV. All of the women struggled with their diagnosis, but as the quote in the picture says, “I struggle and that is my strength”, many of them felt strong and inspired for fighting and living with HIV and turned their life around after the diagnosis.
I was very shocked that many of the women were infected at a very young age, without knowing much about HIV. Some of them were abused, infected by partners or by using drugs. HIV is a horrible disease that can be treated nowadays, as the exhibition shows with these very strong and inspiring 14 women. More HIV-Education could prevent women of getting infected in the first place or at least spread awareness about the disease and treatment.















