Condom Coercion, Sexual Relationship Power, and Risk for HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Young Women Attending Urban Family Planning Clinics.

Relationship dynamics play an important role in young women's ability to protect themselves from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and can often impede their ability to negotiate for safe sex. In this paper we identify several forms of condom coercion that place young women at risk for acquiring HIV and STIs. Furthermore, we describe several common sexual gender norms that decrease young women's sexual relationships power (SRP) and foster a social climate supportive of condom coercion. This study drawns attention to the concern that conventional descriptions of physical, sexual, and psychological violence do not fully recognize the prevalence of coercion in the lives of young urban women. Furthermore, coerced unprotected sex is not widely recognized as an important factor in the spread of HIV/STIs. Policies and prevention programs are needed to address this issue, especially among the poor urban women most affected by these epidemics.