Being gay post-HAART: Young gay men negotiating desire, heteronormativity, and fear of HIV

Trevor Hoppe

Sociology and Women’s Studies
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Estados Unidos

This study explores the ways that three young, HIV-negative gay men in San Francisco experience being gay in a post-HAART world. HAART, or highly active anti-retroviral therapy, was developed in the mid-1990s as the first treatment for HIV that significantly improved life expectancies and quality of life for HIV-positive patients. Today, young gay men are coming out in what the late activist and scholar Eric Rofes has called a “Post-AIDS Moment” (see Rofes, 1998) – or when “HIV became understood as ‘chronic’ and ‘manageable’ among privileged gay men, as it continued to decimate communities of gay men with limited access to treatments (men of color, drug-addicted men, men living in poverty)” (Jablonski, 2004).

Given this dramatic shift in experience, understanding young HIV-negative gay men’s sexualities, desires, and conceptions of risk in this new moment is critical for 21^st century HIV prevention efforts. To investigate this, I conducted one focus group and three individual interviews with three young, HIV-negative gay men. Participants were recruited online through the bulletin board website “Craigslist,” and they were asked to: be between the ages of 20 and 27; be sexually active as they defined it; identify as both HIV-negative and gay; and have lived in San Francisco for at least 2 years.

Several consistencies emerged in these men’s narratives. First, participants reported a fear of testing HIV-positive that reinforced both their desire for monogamous boyfriends and their discomfort with casual sex. In particular, two participants reported that they only felt comfortable engaging in anal sex within monogamous boyfriend relationships. For these participants, boyfriend relationships provided a trusting environment in which they felt comfortable not only having anal sex – but anal sex without condoms. In all three cases, the desire for a coupled, monogamous life seemed to be part of a larger strategy to remain HIV-negative.

Second, all three participants reported grappling with the stereotype that all gay men inevitably test positive. This widespread belief, created by Walt Odets has called the “AIDSification of homosexuality” (Odets, 1995), fueled their fear of contracting the virus. Finally, all three participants also reported experiences with high school sexuality education that made no mention of gay sex. Thus, each participant reported a kind of patchwork education about HIV transmission that included a variety of sources collected over time.

This exploratory study, by no means comprehensive or representative of HIV-negative young gay men, raises more questions for future research than it answers. First, studies investigating the impact of what some participants called their “irrational” fear of contracting HIV are needed. Where does this fear come from? What impact does it have on young gay men’s sexualities? Further, their narratives suggests that understanding the impact of heteronormative sexuality education on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) youth may help explain this fear. Finally, these case studies suggest a need for more serious inquiries into the way that some young gay men are using monogamy as a strategy to remain HIV-negative. This has obvious implications for HIV prevention research, but also may have implications for studies examining 21^st century GLBT political movements for same-gender marriage.

References

Odets, W. (1995). Dry bones In the shadow of the epidemic: Being HIV-negative in the age of AIDS. New Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Rofes, E. (1998). Dry bones breathe: Gay men creating post-AIDS identities and cultures. New York: Harrington Park Press.

Jablonski, Olivier. (2004). [Interview with Eric Rofes]. Retrieved April 21, 2007, from http://www.ericrofes.com/policy/co_jablonski_interview.php

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