Allen W. Imershein

THE MULTIPLE JEOPARDY OF RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER FOR AIDS RISK AMONG WOMEN:

This article focuses on the ways that sexual risk behaviors are related to race, class, and gender among low-income, culturally diverse women in South Florida. Data concerning sexual risk (frequency of condom use) and gender (decision making with regard to condom use and gender attitudes) are presented in terms of race and class variations. Results indicate that, in general, these women have a high degree of knowledge about acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), a quite contemporary awareness of womens gendered subordination, and a lack of trust in heterosexual relationships. Attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge, however, are not translated into sexual behaviors with men partners that would reduce their vulnerability to infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The data indicate that race is a major factor that places women into an underclass position. Consequently, without socioeconomic resources, gendered behaviors have a direct influence on sexual risk. Multivariate analyses indicate that those women who are sex workers are significantly more likely to negotiate safe sex with clients than with main partners. The research not only challenges mainstream thinking about race, class, and gender but also provides overdue information on the vulnerability of women to HIV infection.

Substance Use among Women at Risk for HIV Infection

This article reports results from a survey of culturally diverse women at risk for HIV infection in south Florida. Data concerning their substance use and its association with HIV risk behaviors are presented. Results indicate levels of consumption which exceed expectations based on general estimates of female substance use. Further, substance use was associated with specific behaviors and lifestyles which placed the women at increased risk for HIV infection.

Channel Power: A Proposed Multidimensional Perspective

Taylor (1992) suggests that existing conceptualizations and operationalizations of power in the channels literature are based on a unidimensional conceptualization of channel unit interaction. The following discussion extends this argument by demonstrating how the current conceptualizations of power (1) fail to capture the larger domain of power and (2) understate that portion of power which is captured by the current conceptualizations by failing to distinguish between appropriate conditions of power. We present an alternative multidimensional power conceptualization which purports to overcome these limitations.

The Social Organization of Mental Illness.

Introduction Social Representations and Social Worlds Changing Images of the Psychiatric Hospital The Diverse Objects of Psychiatric Theory Networks of Professional Practice Representations of Psychiatric Disorder in the Community Representations of Psychiatric Disorder in the Family The Social Worlds of the Hospital The Social Worlds of the Community Epilogue Representations of Mental Illness