Abstract
In this chapter we provide an historical review of how sexual relationships between people infected with HIV and those not infected, which have come to be called serodiscordant, have been conceptualised in the Australian gay community. Changing scientific understandings of HIV transmission and infectiousness are shifting notions of “serodiscordance”, so in this chapter we often refer to “serodifference” instead. Drawing on selected images, including an iconic representation of serodifference by artist and activist David McDiarmid, as well as the community-based health promotion campaigns Opposites Attract, FearLessLiveMore and SERO DISCO 2, we trace the development of the idea of serodifference both to underscore its historical and cultural contingency and to suggest progressive future approaches. We interpret these images as cultural signifiers and historical framers of changing understandings of sexual relationships in the context of HIV among gay men across time in Australia. Using this historical review, we argue that representing serodifference as oppositional and conflicting is outdated. New understandings of HIV transmission have opened up the possibility of new serostatus identities such as “undetectable”. In the context of the lives of gay men, managing serodifference in the future is not just about managing risk, but also about constructing and managing new HIV identities in a world of serodiversity, hopefully leading to greater seroharmony.
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Notes
- 1.
Sadownick (1996: 221) uses this terminology to describe the decisions of some gay men to only have sex with other gay men when their HIV status was disclosed and if their HIV status was the same – that is both were either HIV-positive or both were HIV-negative.
- 2.
The expression “negotiated safety” was used to refer to an agreement between HIV-negative men that would limit condomless anal intercourse to only between partners within a regular relationship. Any sex with other partners outside the primary relationship would have to be protected sex using condoms. “Strategic positioning” was used to refer to the way men determine sexual roles based on serostatus during condomless anal sex as a risk reduction strategy. The HIV-negative partner takes the insertive position and the HIV-positive partner takes the receptive position.
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Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Aaron Cogle, Executive Director, the National Association of People with HIV Australia (NAPWHA), for ideas and assistance in developing the commentary surrounding the images used in this chapter.
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Rule, J., Slavin, S. (2017). Seeking Seroharmony: Changing Conceptualisations of Serodifference and Serostatus. In: Persson, A., Hughes, S. (eds) Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Couples with Mixed HIV Status: Beyond Positive/Negative. Social Aspects of HIV, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42725-6_4
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