Key Facts And Issues Published in the Bulletin of Experimental Treatments for AIDS Summer 2000 issue, by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Very young women are even more vulnerable in this respect because they have not reached physiological maturity. More virus is present in sperm than in vaginal secretions. Coerced sex increases the risk of microlesions. Economically Financial or material dependence on men means that women cannot always control when, with whom, and in what circumstances they have sex.
Many women have to exchange sex for material favours and survival.
Formal sex work clearly involves this exchange but there is also another, less formalized exchange which, in many resource-poor settings, is the only way for many women to provide for themselves and their children. Socially and culturally Women are not expected to make decisions about or even to discuss sexuality. Many women cannot request, let alone insist on using a condom or any form of protection. If women refuse sex or request condom use, men often suspect infidelity. Therefore, women often risk abuse by refusing sex or requesting condom use.