Demons, Ghouls and Gay Men with HIV

As Halloween swirls around us, I find myself pondering some of the discussions and debate about researching social sexual networks of gay men and attempts to shape and separate risk networks.

It is a fact that there are more gay men living with HIV within particular sub-sections of the gay community, although it is worth remembering there are gay men with HIV living in almost every part of the community.

As treatment for HIV has improved, the demographic of gay men living with HIV has changed and now a large proportion of those living with HIV are in their late thirties and forties. Similarly HIV is more common in some populations of gay men of color and gay men from certain parts of the world.

But does this mean that we should highlight these groups and dissuade men who are currently HIV negative from having sex with them? Creating two separate social sexual networks would retain sexual activity within each circuit but make crossing over a social taboo, like two separate train tracks where the passengers can wave at each other from the carriages but never mingle.

Read the rest at lifelube.blogspot.com.