HIV/AIDS and ethics of care on the experience of activist women in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Informed by the studies of care, this text examines the notion of care among women from the National Movement of Posithivas Citizens (MNCP) in Brazil. Based on a qualitative approach, the paper describes the ingress of these women in the social movement after receiving the HIV diagnosis and analyzes their self-care practices. Field work consisted of eight interviews and a participant observation of the movement’s activities, between 2014 and 2015. The collected testimonies illustrate the normalization of the perspective that caring for others is the sole responsibility of women. Situations of social and gender inequalities are prominent in the trajectories of the interviewees and compromise their quality of life and self-care. The findings indicate the need to foster a reflection on the ethics of care through a feminist perspective, within the context of the social movement of seropositive women.