Ladies Who Love Their Life

HIV activism doesn’t require you to hit the streets in protest and risk arrest. Here’s a simpler way to advocate for HIV awareness and protection for women: Visit LoveYourLife.org (if you prefer Spanish, go to AmaTuVida.org) and download the site’s colorful “Love Your Life” posters to share with your community, whether it’s online, at a church group or the local laundry.

Produced by AIDS service organizations Iris House and Voces Latinas, which cater to women of color living with and affected by HIV, the “Love Your Life” campaign was funded with a grant from ViiV Healthcare and shot by photographer Duane Cramer, who is also living with the virus.

The campaign website offers five simple ways that women can protect themselves from the virus:

• Educate yourself about HIV
• Know your status
• Get an HIV test
• Use a (female) condom every time you have sex
• Learn about PrEP, which is a once-a-day pill that can help you stay HIV negative.

With its positive messages and vibrant, attractive images, the bilingual campaign aims to encourage women to become engaged in HIV awareness and prevention and to address the stigma associated with it. The photography features women of various ages and races, and the campaign serves as a call to action for all women to take personal responsibility for their life and health.

The initiative is aimed at women of color, specifically Black and Hispanic women, and was launched on March 10 during National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

Iris House’s Ingrid Floyd (center) and a few of the HIV-positive attendeesJennifer Morton

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