The Intersectionality of Intimate Partner Violence in the Black Community

To adequately address intimate partner violence in the black community in the USA, it is imperative to discuss historical oppression and examine how intersecting realities influence intimate partner/gender-based violence and individual, community, and systemic responses. Institutionalized and internalized oppression through racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, xenophobia, religious subjugation, etc., perpetuates unrecognized, unaddressed, and denied traumatic experiences for black survivors. One of the leading causes of death for black women aged 15–35 is intimate partner violence. Black women are almost three times more likely than white women to be killed by an intimate partner. This chapter will explore why culturally specific, trauma-informed practices are essential for holistic responses. For a black survivor, oppression, implicit/explicit bias, and racial loyalty/collectivism directly impact how female survivors perceive, react to, and report intimate partner violence. Racism and stereotypes continue to contribute to the failure of the legal systems, crisis services, and other programs to provide adequate resources and assistance to black survivors. Survivors who are foreign-born Africans, Afro Caribbeans, and Afro Latinas experience limited access to services in their first languages and/or limited interpreters who speak the native language, fear of interacting with systems and deportation, and little cultural understanding and empathy from service providers. We will provide promising practices, guiding principles, and culturally specific resources to illuminate the opportunities that exist to support the resiliency, autonomy, and self-determination of black survivors

Recent sexual violence exposure is associated with immune biomarkers of HIV susceptibility in women

Problem: HIV/AIDS and sexual violence act synergistically and compromise women\u27s health. Yet, immuno-biological mechanisms linking sexual violence and increased HIV susceptibility are poorly understood. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional pilot study of HIV-uninfected women, comparing 13 women exposed to forced vaginal penetration within the past 12 weeks (Exposed) with 25 Non-Exposed women. ELISA assays were conducted for 49 biomarkers associated with HIV pathogenesis in plasma and cervicovaginal lavage (CVL). Differences between Exposed and Non-Exposed were analyzed by linear and logistic regression, using propensity score weighting to control for age, race, socioeconomic status, menstrual cycle, and contraceptive use. Results: In CVL, Exposed women had significantly reduced chemokines MIP-3α (p \u3c.01), MCP-1 (p \u3c.01), and anti-HIV/wound-healing thrombospondin-1 (p =.03). They also had significantly increased inflammatory cytokine IL-1α (p \u3c 0.01) and were more likely to have detectable wound-healing PDGF (p =.02). In plasma, Exposed women had reduced chemokines MIP-3α (p \u3c.01) and IL-8 (p \u3c.01), anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β (p =.02), anti-HIV/antimicrobial HBD–2 (p =.02), and wound-healing MMP-1 (p = 0.02). They also had increased thrombospondin-1 (p \u3c.01) and Cathepsin B (p =.01). After applying the stringent method of false discovery rate adjustment, differences for IL-1α (p =.05) and MCP-1 (p =.03) in CVL and MIP-3α (p =.03) in plasma remained significant. Conclusions: We report systemic and mucosal immune dysregulation in women exposed to sexual violence. As these biomarkers have been associated with HIV pathogenesis, dysregulation may increase HIV susceptibility