March 16, 2017: For National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (#NWGHAAD), PWNers from coast to coast hosted and participated in events, in person and online, raising awareness and educating our communities about HIV and its impact on women and girls and asserting the bodily autonomy of women living with HIV.

From the Women Living Conference in Atlanta (PWNer Shyronn Jones shares her experience there in this blog) to a special event focused on the theme of bodily autonomy in Philadelphia, PWN-USA members and regional chapters took advantage of the occasion to speak out, share our stories and advocate for our rights. You can see the events PWN-USA members and chapters hosted, participated in and/or presented at here. And check out the slideshow above!

March 9, we released Bodily Autonomy: A Framework to Guide Our Future, which explains the simple but radical concept of bodily autonomy as a critical framework for understanding and fighting back against the intensifying, oppressive attacks on women, people of color, immigrants, trans and gender-nonconforming folks, Muslims, LGB folks and people with chronic health conditions. We also hosted a webinar breaking down what the attacks on bodily autonomy mean for different people with amazing presenters from SisterLove, Inc., Transgender Law Center & Southerners on New Ground (SONG), Trans Sistas of Color Project Detroit and California Latinas for Reproductive Justice–if you missed it or would like to share it, you can find the recording here!

March 10, National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, we continued the conversation about #BodilyAutonomy on Twitter with partners from HIVE, SisterSong, The Well Project, Desiree Alliance, Prevention Access Campaign, Arianna’s Center/TransLatin@ Florida, and Positively Trans, exploring the ways bodily autonomy is denied to people living with HIV, sex workers, people of trans experience, women of color, immigrants and others, using the hashtags #BodilyAutonomy and #NWGHAAD. If you missed the Twitter chat, check out our quick-and-dirty recap here!

Bodily autonomy was not just our theme for Women and Girls Day, but will be a continuing theme for PWN-USA until the attacks on our bodily autonomy cease. Join us by making this term part of your regular vocabulary and standing up for the rights of those of us living at the intersection of multiple oppressions. As our friend Cristine Sardina at Desiree Alliance says, “If you don’t know your rights…you don’t have any!”