Strange bedfellows: HIV-related stigma among gay men in Australia

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013. All rights are reserved. HIV-related stigma and discrimination among gay men has remained largely under-researched. Also, there generally is a lack of research that directly compares the HIV-related stigma experienced by people living with HIV and th...

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Main Authors: De Wit, J., Murphy, Dean, Adam, P., Donohoe, S.
Format: Book Chapter
Published: 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3239
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author De Wit, J.
Murphy, Dean
Adam, P.
Donohoe, S.
author_facet De Wit, J.
Murphy, Dean
Adam, P.
Donohoe, S.
author_sort De Wit, J.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013. All rights are reserved. HIV-related stigma and discrimination among gay men has remained largely under-researched. Also, there generally is a lack of research that directly compares the HIV-related stigma experienced by people living with HIV and the stigma expressed by people not living with HIV. This chapter reports on an online community study in Australia, undertaken to investigate and compare HIV-related stigma as experienced by HIV-positive gay men and expressed by non-HIV-positive gay men. From 1 December 2009 to 31 January 2010, the HIV Stigma Barometer Survey recruited 1,258 HIV-positive (17.0 %), HIV-negative (72.6 %), and HIV status unknown (10.4 %) gay men. Participants answered a range of questions regarding stigma-related attributions of responsibility, social distancing, negative emotional reactions, and sexual exclusion. Findings show that HIV-positive men overall experienced low levels of stigma, including attributions of responsibility and social distancing. However, they experienced higher levels of negative emotional reactions and in particular experienced exclusion as sexual or romantic partners. HIV-related stigma expressed by non-HIV-positive men was highly comparable to the experiences of HIV-positive men. These findings provide evidence of HIV-related stigma and a serostatus divide in the gay community. Stigma seems located primarily in the domain of sex and relationships, and this possible sexual divide may reflect and drive the adoption of serostatus-based risk reduction strategies. An important contribution of this study is its comparison and cross-validation of reports of experienced as well as expressed stigma in gay men. This was enabled by a new stigma measure that was informed by a conceptual analysis of the stigma concept and draws on existing scales.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-32392017-09-13T14:45:48Z Strange bedfellows: HIV-related stigma among gay men in Australia De Wit, J. Murphy, Dean Adam, P. Donohoe, S. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013. All rights are reserved. HIV-related stigma and discrimination among gay men has remained largely under-researched. Also, there generally is a lack of research that directly compares the HIV-related stigma experienced by people living with HIV and the stigma expressed by people not living with HIV. This chapter reports on an online community study in Australia, undertaken to investigate and compare HIV-related stigma as experienced by HIV-positive gay men and expressed by non-HIV-positive gay men. From 1 December 2009 to 31 January 2010, the HIV Stigma Barometer Survey recruited 1,258 HIV-positive (17.0 %), HIV-negative (72.6 %), and HIV status unknown (10.4 %) gay men. Participants answered a range of questions regarding stigma-related attributions of responsibility, social distancing, negative emotional reactions, and sexual exclusion. Findings show that HIV-positive men overall experienced low levels of stigma, including attributions of responsibility and social distancing. However, they experienced higher levels of negative emotional reactions and in particular experienced exclusion as sexual or romantic partners. HIV-related stigma expressed by non-HIV-positive men was highly comparable to the experiences of HIV-positive men. These findings provide evidence of HIV-related stigma and a serostatus divide in the gay community. Stigma seems located primarily in the domain of sex and relationships, and this possible sexual divide may reflect and drive the adoption of serostatus-based risk reduction strategies. An important contribution of this study is its comparison and cross-validation of reports of experienced as well as expressed stigma in gay men. This was enabled by a new stigma measure that was informed by a conceptual analysis of the stigma concept and draws on existing scales. 2012 Book Chapter http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3239 10.1007/978-94-007-6324-1_17 restricted
spellingShingle De Wit, J.
Murphy, Dean
Adam, P.
Donohoe, S.
Strange bedfellows: HIV-related stigma among gay men in Australia
title Strange bedfellows: HIV-related stigma among gay men in Australia
title_full Strange bedfellows: HIV-related stigma among gay men in Australia
title_fullStr Strange bedfellows: HIV-related stigma among gay men in Australia
title_full_unstemmed Strange bedfellows: HIV-related stigma among gay men in Australia
title_short Strange bedfellows: HIV-related stigma among gay men in Australia
title_sort strange bedfellows: hiv-related stigma among gay men in australia
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3239