Putting Risk in Perspective

Renée T. White is assistant professor of sociology at Central Connecticut State University.

• Chapter 1 Introduction: To Be Young, Female, and BlackChapter 2 Picturing the AIDS EpidemicChapter 3 In the CityChapter 4 Talking to Girlfriends and FamilyChapter 5 Building Relationships: Love, Dating, and RomanceChapter 6 Contraception: Safer Sex or Birth Control?Chapter 7 Ultimate Risk: Perceptions of AIDS and HIVChapter 8 Just Say No?: Reflections on the Reality of AIDSChapter 9 Appendix 1: Description of the StudyChapter 10 Appendix 2: HIV- and AIDS-Related ResourcesChapter 11 NotesChapter 12 ReferencesChapter 13 Index

Renée White listened carefully to teenage women speaking about love, sex, motherhood, HIV disease and the future, keeping in sight the links between the women's personal behaviors and broader social contexts. Her meticulous analysis shows us that adolescents and health organisations may hold different views about what constitutes risky sexual behavior, why condoms are so seldom used, and why current health education fails to have an impact on the lives of young black women living in poverty. Dispensing with many popularly held assumptions about teenage sexual behavior, this book clears the path for more finely tuned and effective forms of health intervention and evaluation.