“Una cosa fea”: VIH-SIDA y sistema de género entre los gitanos españoles1

Abstract

This article intends to show the interpenetration of the gender and age system of the Spanish gipsy community with its perceptions and practices related to the HIV-AIDS complex. After a historical and social analysis of the gipsy ethnic community, the hegemonic conception that different groups among the gipsy population develop around HIV-AIDS is considered. The study of the symptoms and of the physical and social consequences of declared AIDS enabled us to analyse the conceptions of the body which have their roots in the construction of subaltern “bodies”. The role of women and men as care givers when facing HIV-AIDS show very clearly how gender differences articulate, in a significant way, social relations within the spanish gipsy community. Finally, the social vector constituted by gipsy masculinities and femininities offers an excellent framework for research on the physical and social prevention processes the gipsies bring into play when facing disease.