The Paradoxes of PrEP: Rejection, Reluctancy, and Novel Gay Identities in Biomedical HIV Prevention in Serbia

This article explores the different ways in which gay men in Serbia perceive PrEP as a novel method of HIV prevention. In the article, I draw on data from my research on PrEP use among thirty gay men in Belgrade. The use of PrEP is still very low amongst gay communities in Serbia due to their rejection of PrEP and due to the stigma around PrEP use. In Serbia, the social significance of PrEP relates to HIV status disclosure on gay social/dating media. Paradoxically, on gay dating sites, the signifier "PrEP" blurs the line between HIV positive gay men – who have achieved undetectable HIV status through a potent ARV therapy – and those HIV negative gay men who use PrEP as a preventative tool against HIV transmission. In the article, I will argue that a new form of gay identity has emerged on gay dating apps in Serbia – "undetectable, on PrEP." This new identity emerges from confusion in HIV risk assessment. The use of PrEP has been seen as a marker to denote someone’s HIV negative status and to protect them from HIV transmission. However, some gay men with an undetectable HIV status would like to be regarded as HIV negative even though they are not, and thus they use the signifier "on PrEP" to highlight their desire to claim an HIV negative status. PrEP has many symbolic valences: from HIV status disclosure to assumed promiscuity. As I will argue, while the health paradigm is of utmost importance for Serbian gay men, internalized stigma additionally drives the low uptake of PrEP amongst gay communities in Serbia, thus contributing to the confusion regarding PrEP use and the overall approach to HIV prevention. This article finds that those respondents who accept PrEP without stigma or confusion regarding their HIV status are also more willing and ready to recommend using PrEP to other gay men.

The 1980s

Chapter 4 tells the story of how AIDS created a health and political crisis in gay communities, which led to a rapid political mobilization and the forcible outing of many formerly closeted people. Many states had decriminalized sodomy, but in the 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick decision, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that criminalization of sodomy was not unconstitutional, a major setback for gay rights. Lewis Powell, who claimed he had never known a gay person was the deciding vote. After Bowers, Lewis Powell retired from the Supreme Court. President Reagan nominated Robert Bork to fill the empty Supreme Court seat, but the US Senate did not confirm Bork. Eventually Anthony Kennedy took Powell’s seat on the Supreme Court. Kennedy would go on to author majority decisions in four major gay rights cases.

Reading Representations of (Un)desirable GBTI Men on QueerLife’s 4Men Website Section

Using discourse analysis and semiotic analysis, this article examines how the language and images of the “4men” section of the South African site QueerLife construct masculinity and femininity as (un)desirable aspects in gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (GBTI) men’s relationships. The use of “(un)desirable” in this article suggests that there are contesting definitions of what constitutes desirable and undesirable traits in GBTI relationships. Although QueerLife states that it caters to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people, this article only focuses on GBTI men’s content in the 4men section. The article argues that despite claiming to cater to all within the LGBTI spectrum, representations on QueerLife 4men seem to treat masculinity as the most desirable trait. This encompasses traits such as penis size, athleticism, class, emotionlessness, and muscular, firmly built bodies. Overall, the analysis of these texts will show that among what such representations seek to achieve in post-apartheid South Africa is an appeal to white, urban, middle-class gay communities.

Eastern Girls and Boys: Mapping Lesbian and Gay Languages in Kuala Lumpur

Lesbian and gay communities in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, evidence unique and highly localized language practices, influenced by the specific organization and appropriation of a variety of social and cultural factors and networks. A hybridity and restylizing of Islamic, Confucianist, neoliberal, and transnational discourses significantly shape these communities, thus providing a lens through which to effect description of these speech communities. This paper discusses language styles in lesbian and gay communities in Kuala Lumpur, and evidences that their language practices, language ideologies, and identities, are fostered and legitimized in culturally complex ways. These complexities become predicated on a specific reapropriation of transnational factors, sociocultural histories, and patriarchal standpoints, mediated by society at large. As such, the study explores and finds a significant bias across these two communities, in that the language practices specific to gay communities far exceed those of lesbian communities. These language practices are mediated by gendered practices and gendered differentials pervasive of larger Malaysian society.

THE REPRESENTATIONS OF HOMOPHOBIA IN GAY-THEMED AMERICAN MOVIES 1990s–2010s

The United States is well-known for its acceptance of homosexuality. Nevertheless, homophobia remains a threat that endangers gay communities in the United States. Homophobia is an intriguing phenomenon for American filmmakers. Through gay-themed movies, those filmmakers intend to raise the awareness that homophobia is elusive to eradicate. This study scrutinizes the representations of homophobia in the United States as seen in gay-themed American movies. The study carries out Postnationalist America Studies as the paradigm of the study which encompasses the discussions of numerous phenomena in the United States. Also, the study applies theory of representation by Stuart Hall probing the representations of homophobia in gay-themed American movies of 1990s-2010s. The study uses nine gay-themed American movies of 1990s-2010s as the primary data of the research. The findings of the study show three representations of homophobia in the United States, which encompass religions, gender roles, heteronormativity, masculinity, and HIV/AIDS as the highlighted factors that incite homophobia. By highlighting those major factors of homophobia, the filmmakers come up with two major intentions. The first intention is the movies as means to criticize the society who conforms to strict religious beliefs, traditional gender roles, masculinity, and heteronormativity. The conformity has led the society to commit homophobia, hence making homophobia elusive to eradicate. The second intention is the movies are aimed at encouraging gay communities to keep fighting for their issues and equality. Keywords: Homosexuality, Homophobia, the United States, Gay-themed American Movies

Gdzie jest gej? O nazwach przestrzeni w pierwszych polskich pismach gejowskich

Where is a gay? On names of space in the first Polish gay magazinesGay zines of the 1980s and 1990s make up a unique communication space of gay communities at a time when communication was clearly problematic and in small towns even impossible, especially given the fact that communication over the internet did not begin until the mid-1990s. That is why the press became a sort of gay information agency, a platform for information and experience sharing and — most importantly — a record of the language of sexual minorities at the time.In the article the author describes the spaces real and mental presented in gay magazines, their names and selected names of things, types of behaviour etc. inextricably linked to these spaces. In his research he draws on M. Foucault’s concept of heterotopia and on the concept of subversion of space essential to the building of a gay community at the time. He points to the process of creating such spaces by taking over and recoding as well as redefining, in the gay sociolect, what was originally heteronorma­tive. Finally, he draws a linguistic map of the spaces of gay culture.

Islam, gay, and marginalization: a study on the religious behaviours of gays in Yogyakarta

0px; "> Man does not intend to be born gay, whose existence is not welcomed in the society including within his spiritual religious expressions. In Wonosobo, in the year of 2016, a marriage ceremony almost happened between a male and a male. This phenomenon is interesting to be studied in detail. In a specific way, this article uncovers the religious behaviours of gays in Yogyakarta. Usingan anthropological approach, the researchers were directly involved in the subjects’ lives in the social, economic, cultural, and religious aspects. In texts, same-sex relationships were found in the narratives of Prophet Luth written in the Al-Quran books Al-A’raf verse 81, Al-Shu’ara’ verses 165-166, An-Nisa verse 16, and Hud verses 77-83. These verses are used as the basis for rejecting homosexuality. From the social life happening in Yogyakarta there arise conflicts between the gays and their families so that they run away from their families to join gay communities and form economic and even religious groups.Furthermore, in their citizenship status, there is marginalization or administrative abuse for their identities in the identification card.Manusia tidak berniat untuk dilahirkan sebagai gay, yang keberadaannya tidak disambut baik di masyarakat termasuk dalam ungkapan spiritualnya. Di Wonosobo, pada tahun 2016, sebuah upacara pernikahan hampir terjadi antara sesama jenis lelaki. Fenomena ini menarik untuk dikaji secara detail. Artikel ini mengungkap perilaku religius kaum gay di Yogyakarta. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan antropologis, peneliti secara langsung terlibat dalam kehidupan subyekdalam aspek sosial, ekonomi, budaya, dan agama. Dalam teks, hubungan sesama jenis ditemukan dalam narasi Nabi Luth yang ditulis dalam buku Al-Quran AlA’raf ayat 81, ayat Al-Shu’ara 165-166, An-Nisa ayat 16, dan ayat-ayat Hud 77- 83. Ayat-ayat ini digunakan sebagai dasar untuk menolak homoseksualitas. Dalam kehidupan sosial di Yogyakarta, timbul konflik antara kaum gay dan keluarga mereka. Konflik ini membuat mereka melarikan diri dari keluarga dan bergabung dengan komunitas gay dan membentuk kelompok ekonomi dan bahkan kelompok keagamaan. Dalam status kewarganegaraan, mereka mengalami marginalisasi atau penyalahgunaan administratif dalam kartu identitas mereka.