“A man’s gonna do what a man wants to do”: African American and Hispanic women’s perceptions about heterosexual relationships: a qualitative study

Abstract

BackgroundHIV prevention efforts have given limited attention to the relational schemas and scripts of adult heterosexual women. These broader schemas and scripts of romantic and other sexual liaisons, partner selection, relationship dynamics, and power negotiations may help to better understand facilitators and barriers to HIV risk-reduction practices.MethodsWe conducted exploratory qualitative interviews with 60 HIV-uninfected heterosexual African-American women from rural counties in North Carolina and Alabama, and Hispanic women from an urban county in southern Florida. Data were collected for relationship expectations; relationship experiences, and relationship power and decision-making. Interview transcripts underwent computer-assisted thematic analysis.ResultsParticipants had a median age of 34 years (range 18–59), 34% were married or living as married, 39% earned an annual income of $12,000 or less, 12% held less than a high school education, and 54% were employed. Among the Hispanic women, 95% were foreign born. We identified two overarching relationship themes: contradictions between relationship expectations and desires and life circumstances that negated such ideals, and relationship challenges. Within the contradictions theme, we discovered six subthemes: a good man is hard to find; sex can be currency used to secure desired outcomes; compromises and allowances for cheating, irresponsible, and disrespectful behavior; redefining dating; sex just happens; needing relationship validation. The challenges theme centered on two subthemes: uncertainties and miscommunication, and relationship power negotiation. Gender differences in relationship intentions and desires as well as communication styles, the importance of emotional and financial support, and the potential for relationships to provide disappointment were present in all subthemes. In examining HIV risk perceptions, participants largely held that risk for HIV-infection and the need to take precautions were problems of women who differed from them (i.e., abuse drugs, are promiscuous, exchange sex).ConclusionUnderlying women’s relational schemas was a belief that relationship priorities differed for men and women. Consequently, expectations and allowances for partner infidelity and negligent behaviors were incorporated into their scripts. Moreover, scripts endorsed women’s use of sex as currency in relationship formation and endurance, and did not emphasize HIV risk. Both couple- and gender-specific group-level interventions are needed to deconstruct (breakdown) and reconstruct (rewrite) relationship scripts.

A Multilevel Understanding of HIV/AIDS Disease Burden among African American Women

“…Particularly regarding condom use, it is important to consider attitudes toward condom use among men as these sometimes shape condom use and relationship scripts among women (McLellan-Lemal et al, 2013). For example, some African American men believe that condoms take away their masculinity, power, and attractiveness, and this belief can sway their female partners' attitudes toward condom use (Harvey & Bird, 2002;Senn, Carey, Vanable, & Seward, 2009).…”

Predictors of Sexual Scripts Among Young, Sexually-Active, Substance- Using African American Women

“…face-to-face meetings. Codes were collapsed into themes informed by Wingood's focus of Connell's TGP on the powerless of AA women in sexual decision making [44][45][46]66] and Stephen and Phillip focus on female's sexual script development research of AA women [36,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. The research team then conducted a frequency analysis on emerging themes using NVIVO11 and Microsoft Excel software.…”

“…Stephens and Phillips' focus of females' sexual script development research with AA women explores ways culture shapes perception, expression of appropriate and socially acceptable sexual behavior, individual level expectations, and experiences of behaviors that occur in series [49] within a population at high risk for HIV [36,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. The SST articulates the way sexual scripts provide instructions (i.e., a roadmap) for clarifying the intention and meaning of sexual cues and responding to them, which in turn informs how men and women behave in sexual situations [50,51,[60][61][62][63].…”

“…The SST articulates the way sexual scripts provide instructions (i.e., a roadmap) for clarifying the intention and meaning of sexual cues and responding to them, which in turn informs how men and women behave in sexual situations [50,51,[60][61][62][63]. Sexual scripts in Western culture sometimes support women in heterosexual relationships to defer to the male partner for sexual decision making, resulting in situations where women are vulnerable to the decisions made by their male counterparts [51,63,64]. This, in turn, leads us to the TGP, which explores how gender-based power imbalances strongly influence the sexual behaviors that place AA women at high risk for HIV and constrain a woman's negotiation ability [65].…”

“…Wingood led the focus of Connely's TGP on powerlessness of AA women in sexual decision making [44][45][46]66]. Within sexual scripts of the AA women, there is a social standard where the power in the sexual relationship favors the male and inconsistent condom use is attributed to low sexual relationship power [16,49,51,53,59,60,65,[67][68][69][70][71], supporting a dynamic where the female is vulnerable to decisions made by her partner [51,64]. By making concerted efforts to better understand these social standards, researchers are better equipped to recognize diverse effects of social support and the vital role it plays in conceptualizing the influential power of the male gender on sexual risk among AA women [59,63].…”