Honoring Black Love and Protecting Black Women’s Sexual Health

This qualitative descriptive study explored how 30 Black cisgender women aged 23–65 conceptualize Black love and examined its impact on their sexual health and vulnerability to HIV. Thematic analysis was undertaken to identify codes, themes, and subthemes of the data. Three overarching key themes were co-constructed: (1) Black love with subthemes of self-love, romantic love, and community love, (2) Struggle love with subthemes of coping with stereotypes of Black love and complexities of Black love contributing to sexual risk, and (3) PrEP protecting Black love. Our findings suggest that Black love is complex and multifaceted and has a profound influence on Black women’s sexual decision-making.