Abstract

AMUCHASTEGUI, Ana  and  EVANGELISTA GARCIA, Angélica Aremy. Intersectionality and Social Conditioning of Health: A Theoretical and Methodological Approach to the Effects of Stigma on the Lives of Women with HIV in Chiapas. Rev. interdiscip. estud. género Col. Méx. [online]. 2022, vol.8, e929.  Epub Dec 02, 2022. ISSN 2395-9185.  https://doi.org/10.24201/reg.v8i1.929.

This article studies the heuristic potential of feminist theories of intersectionality as a complement to an approach of to Social Determinants of Health (SDH), used to explore the access of women with HIV to specialized health care in the state of Chiapas. A quantitative survey was conducted on antiretroviral treatment with a sample of cisgender women from rural and/or indigenous communities, in order to explore four indicators of such SDH: food insecurity, gender violence (in families, communities, and institutions), overburden of care work and HIV/AIDS clinics’ geographical remoteness. The study’s qualitative component explores the subjective experience of such SDH through 32 in-depth interviews. We identified feedback loops in which economic and subjective precariousness, violence, violation of rights, and social exclusion are intensified by the action of HIV stigma, which in turn produce discomfort and suffering for women. We applied Rodó-Zárate’s (2021) theoretical and methodological strategy about a geography of intersectionality and its Relief Maps tool, in which such discomfort is seen as an indicator of social inequalities. In turn, this materializes in specific places that locate people in diverse positions of oppression and privilege. This analysis showed a constant of systemic/systematic discomfort which preexisted HIV/AIDS and was intensified by it, while specialized clinics were experienced as places of wellbeing, in which stigma wanes and loses its oppressive force.

Keywords : gender violence; sex/gender system, intersectional feminism; inequalities.

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