“I Didn't Leave Y'all on Purpose”: HIV-Infected Mothers' Videotaped Legacies for Their Children

Abstract

The authors analyzed twelve videotapes made by HIV-infected women for their children. Using grounded theory methods the concept of "eternal mothering" provides a framework to study the interactive aspects of mothering, and the significance of impending maternal death from a stigmatizing illness. In creating these videotape legacies, the mothers drew on personal experiences of gender, class, race, ethnicity, family configurations, and other social conditions. There is tension between women's self-presentation in an attempt to control the impressions they make on their children, and their decision to disclose stigmatizing secrets with the potential consequential loss of maternal authority and children's loyalty, as well as inherited shame by association.