1st Edition

New International Directions in HIV Prevention for Gay and Bisexual Men

By Michael Wright, B R Simon Rosser Copyright 1999
    168 Pages
    by Routledge

    168 Pages
    by Routledge

    It is widely recognized that current HIV intervention models are falling short of their goals. What are the alternatives?

    To answer this question, New International Directions in HIV Prevention for Gay and Bisexual Men presents a collection of articles from European and American authors that rival dominant paradigms of HIV prevention. Researchers, practitioners, and community organizations will be challenged to examine current assumptions and to consider neglected aspects of risk behavior such as love, trust, and the dynamics of sexual intimacy. New International Directions in HIV Prevention for Gay and Bisexual Men explores models and theories that will help you develop more effective HIV prevention programs to better serve patients and clients.

    New International Directions in HIV Prevention for Gay and Bisexual Men offers you fresh perspectives on prevention work by examining risk behaviors in the interactional, communal, and social contexts in which they are practiced. You will receive alternative explanations and reasons for HIV risk that go beyond current approaches and that introduce possibilities for new intervention strategies. Written by experts in the field, the chapters in New International Directions in HIV Prevention for Gay and Bisexual Men will give you insight into new ideas and developments, including:

    • placing a greater emphasis on improving successful risk management strategies as opposed to quantifying risk factors
    • examining the meaning and context of sexual acts which occur in casual encounters or steady partnerships and incorporating their relevancy into prevention work
    • considering the effects that cultural context and socially constructed meanings have on prevention work and incorporating individuals’values and feelings into prevention strategies
    • focusing on more realistic goals of harm reduction that take sexual decision making into consideration as opposed to expecting abstinence
    • relating the various aspects of sexual encounters--physical attraction, intimacy, reciprocity, and power--to reasons why men choose not to use condoms

      Examining how gay men can underestimate the risk of HIV in order to meet needs of intimacy, New International Directions in HIV Prevention for Gay and Bisexual Men will help you understand the symbolic dimension of sexual contact. The normal, everyday reasons for having sex without a condom are explored, questioning models which often characterize unprotected sex as being the result of low self-esteem, substance abuse, or some other psychological vulnerability.

      Presenting data from both qualitative and quantitative research conducted at group and individual levels, this book reveals the complexity of risk behavior, the richness of sexual experience, and the importance of respecting the unique context in which gay men live their sexual lives. New International Directions in HIV Prevention for Gay and Bisexual Men will help you understand this point of view, enabling you to provide patients and clients with more effective HIV prevention and risk management services.

    Contents Preface
    • Acknowledgments
    • The Chorin Document: A Joint Statement of Recommendations for HIV Prevention Targeting Men Who Have Sex with Men
    • Beyond Risk Factors: Trends in European Safer Sex Research
    • Not All Men, Situations, and Actions Are Equal: Moving from 100 Protection to a More Realistic Prevention Practice
    • The Importance of Contextualizing Research: An Analysis of Data from the German Gay Press Surveys
    • Gay Men and HIV: Community Responses and Personal Risks
    • In This Together: The Limits of Prevention Based on Self-Interest and the Role of Altruism in HIV Safety
    • Anal Sex and Gay Men: The Challenge of HIV and Beyond
    • Imaginary Protections Against AIDS
    • Desire, Cultural Dissonance, and Incentives for Remaining HIV-Negative
    • Context Is Everything: Thoughts on Effective HIV Prevention and Gay Men in the United States
    • The Impact of New Advances in Treatment on HIV Prevention: Implications of the XI International AIDS Conference on Future Prevention Directions
    • The Impact of New Treatments and Other Trends on HIV Prevention for Gay and Bisexual Men in the United States: Observations from the 19th National Lesbian and Gay Health Association Conference
    • Authros’ Notes
    • Index

    Biography

    Michael Wright (Author) ,  B R Simon Rosser (Author