title: An alternate HIV preventive strategy: sex scripts in media for women of color.
abstract: New cases of HIV/AIDS among women of color in the United States highlight the continuing need for the public and private sectors to develop alternate preventive strategies. The author discusses the conceptual basis for using television sex scripts to incorporate women of color relational needs (trust, romance, sexual pressure) to promote HIV risk-reduction messages through a process of association with the television storyline. Sex scripts are a source of implicit knowledge about how to behave in situations that involve sexual intimacy. The article suggests that sexual scripts prevention messages build on the agency of women through the use of power theory-that is supporting woman's self-power by participating in sexual behavioral change. Implications for sexual equality in media programming are discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Puerto Rican/Latino Studies, University of Connecticut, West Hartford, Connecticut 00917, USA. catherine.medina@uconn.edu
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Medina
authors.forename: Diana I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Rios
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D004324:Drama; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D011209:Power, Psychological; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D013690:Television; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014933:Women's Rights