The suffering of women living with HIV and inner love as a revolutionary practice

Abstract

The study aims to discuss the suffering in the narratives of women living with HIV and the social obstacles that place them in underprivileged places. This descriptive, qualitative and exploratory research was based on the survey of narratives from participant members of the mental health group focused on women living with HIV. The data were analyzed through pre-analysis, material exploration, and data processing in light of the feminist authors Federici and hooks. The following categories of data analysis emerged from the women’s narratives: the affective and social helplessness experienced after the HIV diagnosis and impotence and dispossession of one’s own body in the face of seropositivity. The study showed the effects of the stigma associated with HIV and the resulting suffering. Based on the concepts of loneliness and love, we could reflect on the need for health professionals’ care to consider biological aspects and listen to the suffering of
seropositive women.