The Atlantic Examines Risk of HIV Through Marital Sex for Women in Chiapas, Mexico

"[F]or women living in rural Mexico, marital sex represents the single greatest risk for HIV infection," The Atlantic reports in an article examining the situation in the Mexican state of Chiapas, the poorest in the country. "For married women in Chiapas, abstinence is nearly impossible and condoms are difficult to introduce into relationships where the power balance is stacked against them. In short, men don't want to wear condoms and women, economically and culturally dependent on their husbands, can't afford to lose them," the magazine writes. The Atlantic profiles several HIV-positive women living "in La Reforma, a small refinery town in the northeastern corner of Chiapas," who attended a support group meeting for the first time (Hershaw, 9/16).