Women face heavier burden of criminalizing HIV non-disclosure, advocates say
OTTAWA — There is a question that Saara Greene says comes up early when she speaks with HIV-positive women: “Would I get charged if I was raped?”
Greene, an associate professor of social work at McMaster University, said she and her team of community-based researchers hear this often during workshops with women about the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure.
That scenario has not happened, and would be unlikely, but Greene said she and her team hear it time and again as women who live with the virus explore how it impacts their everyday lives.
She said it highlights how the current regime surrounding the disclosure of HIV status can have a different — and sometimes bigger — impact on women than it does on men.