Listen Up! was the first peer-based, community action research project of its kind to examine
how the social determinants of health put women at greater risk for HIV infection than men.
Women’s voices – in particular, women who live with HIV – had not been actively present in
HIV research when we started the project in 1998. The women who have been involved in
the Listen Up! Project – as peer researchers, advisors, participants, and in the present
stage as community presenters – determined both its focus and direction.
As Listen Up! clearly demonstrates, women know what social changes are needed to
reduce their risk for HIV infection. Those involved in the research phases of the project
made 73 recommendations in the areas that affect their lives: poverty; power inbalances in
intimate and familial relationships; problems with health care providers; discrimination,
oppression, and racism; AIDS-specific issues; and other issues, which included, for example,
women’s public safety.