Workable Sisterhood: The Political Journey of Stigmatized Women
with HIV/AIDS. By Michele Tracy Berger. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 2004. 248p. $32.50.
How do women who face the multiple stigmas associated with drug use,
sex work, and HIV-positive status engage as political actors in the wider
environment that shapes their lives? This question is at the heart of
Workable Sisterhood. Michele Tracy Berger offers one of the first
studies of the development of critical consciousness and political
participation of women of color who are HIV positive. All of the women she
interviewed for her study have also struggled with drug abuse and engaged
in sex work, and all have found a way to translate their experiences into
a range of political actions designed to empower themselves and other
women who face similar challenges. These activities include contesting the
stigma associated with HIV-positive status, working
“face-to-face” with other HIV-positive women, designing events
and cultural projects to educate the wider community about HIV and about
those living with HIV and AIDS, and advocating for social and economic
changes that would help improve the lives of HIV-positive people (p.
12).