HIV (Human Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is a social issue that highlights the consequences of social injustice (Dube). In the United States today it is the social location of the individual that determines one's susceptibility to HIV. Specifically, social location refers to an individual's location in his/her society. It includes but is not limited to race, class, gender, and ethnicity (Dube). Unfortunately, in this age of HIV/AIDS social location determines vulnerability to infection.
In particular HIV highlights issues of race and class because of the social location of that race and class within the United States. For example, the African-American community has one of the highest rates of death linked to HIV in America. They are susceptible to HIV because of their race and their low socio-economic standing makes acquiring HIV drugs nearly impossible. In addition, their poorer economic status usually coincides with poorer education. Without proper education concerning the affects of HIV, the disease will spread more easily throughout their community (Dube).
Prevalent in poor communities, drug use provides a medium through which HIV spreads easily. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, in 2002, among Non-Hispanic Black Males of all ages living with AIDS, 40% of cases were related to injection drug use. Among Non-Hispanic Black Females, 36% of AIDS cases were related to injection drug use (Drug War Facts). However, for men in these communities the danger of HIV infection exists at a lower level than it does for women.
When we consider the woman's role in the community, we must take into account her social location. She is African-American, poor, and uneducated, just like the men; however, she is a woman. As a woman she is susceptible to rape by an HIV infected male making her social location more dangerous than that of a poor, African-American male (Dube).
HIV is a complex issue involving the soc...