Offers a look at sixteen HIV-positive women who have a history of drug use, conflict with the law, or a history of working in the sex trade. This work explores the barriers of stigma in relation to political participation, and demonstrates how stigma can be effectively challenged and redirected.

She builds a picture of community-based political participation that challenges popular, medical, and scholarly representations of "crack addicted prostitutes" and HIV-positive women as social problems or victims, rather than as agents of social change. Berger argues that the women's development of a political identity is directly related to a process called "life reconstruction." This process includes substance- abuse treatment, the recognition of gender as a salient factor in their lives, and the use of nontraditional political resources.

Acknowledgments ix
Chapter One: The Politics of Intersectional Stigma for Women with HIV/AIDS 1
An Overview of the Story 2
The New "Face" of HIV//AIDS 6
Women's Community Work: Broadening the Definition of What Constitutes Politics 7
Intersectionality 18
Stigma and Marginality 22
Intersectional Stigma 24
Coming Out of the Shadows: Stigmatized Women and Politics 36
Chapter Two: Women's Narrative Bio-Sketches 37
Advocates 38
Activists 50
Helpers 58
Life Lessons 65
Chapter Three: Capturing the Research Journey/Listening to Women's Lives 68
Section One: Finding the Women 68
Section Two: Why Did She Say That?
Creating and Analyzing Oral Narratives 79
Limitations of the Study 85
Chapter Four: Narratives of Injustice: Discovery of the HIV/AIDS Virus 87
Narratives of Injustice 88
Consequences of the Discovery of the HIV/AIDS Virus 99
Intersectional Stigma as a Contributing Factor 102
Chapter Five Life Reconstruction and the Development of Nontraditional Political Resources 105
What Is Life Reconstruction?105
The Role of Resources 106
External Resources 107
Chapter Six: Life Reconstruction and Gender 119
Aspects of Respondents' Gender Identity before HIV//AIDS and Life Reconstruction 119
Redirecting HIV-Stigma Related to Sex Work 121
Sexual Self-(Re)Education and Empowerment 129
Development of a Public Voice: What It Means to Be a Woman with HIV 133
Consequences of Not Developing a Public Voice 139
Chapter Seven: Making Workable Sisterhood Possible: The Multiple Expressions of Political Participation 143
The Women's Distrust of Conventional Politics 143
Blended and Overlapping Roles 150
Narrative Features of Participation 180
Chapter Eight: Looking to the Future: Struggle and Commitment for Stigmatized Women with HIV/AIDS 186
Collective Stories 186
Policy, Prevention, and Treatment Implications 190
Appendix 193
Notes 195
Bibliography 209
Index 225