Gendered vulnerability, heterosexual men, and HIV/AIDS: Do we need a paradigm shift?

Most HIV prevention literature portrays women as especially "vulnerable" to HIV infection because of biological susceptibility and men's sexual power and privilege. Conversely, heterosexual men are perceived as active transmitters of HIV but not active agents in prevention. Although the paradigm of "women's vulnerability" was a radical and beneficial revision of earlier portrayals of women in the epidemic, the model bears diminishing usefulness for the current global pandemic. This presentation reviews the extremely convincing reasons (biological, epidemiological, socio-cultural) why the vulnerability paradigm emerged, as well as the model's most important benefits to for women. The presenter will then appraise the major limitations of the model, especially relating to its portrayal of heterosexual men and its sexual disempowerment of women. Finally, the presentation will conclude with a call for an expanded model of gender and HIV. This model would acknowledge biology, gender inequality, and gendered power relations but also directly examine social structure, gender, and HIV risk for heterosexual women and men.