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Reasonable trust : an analysis of sexual risk, trust, and intimacy among gay men

University of British Columbia

This thesis explores the psychosocial dynamics of sexual risk-taking in men who have sex with men, with particular focus on the dilemmas that gay men face in establishing trust in themselves and reasonable trust and intimacy with their sexual partners. As well, the practical function of this study is to analyze past and current social marketing efforts aimed at reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS, and to offer suggestions for how to approach a strategy to reduce HIV incidence in gay men and at the same time bolster efforts to assist men who have sex with men (MSM) in adhering to safer sex guidelines. In part, this thesis uses a sample of participants of the Vanguard Project cohort (St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia), in order to explore the social meanings attributed by MSM towards sex, risk, intimacy, and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS. Through the use of first-person narratives, this thesis examines the concordance or discordance of MSM beliefs and behaviour with long-standing theoretical models of harm reduction methods concerning sexual risk. The study reveals that, in great measure, due to past life course events, many gay men suffer from a lack of trust in themselves, which results in a tendency to make irrational or unreasonable decisions concerning their long-term sexual health, and a lack of trust in other gay men. As welL through the misguided and often untruthful health models that advocate fewer sexual partners and rely upon the false assumption that all potential sex partners are carriers of contagion, the sense of mistrust has been reinforced. The lack of confidence in self and others further translates into a suspicion of the motives and/or efficacy of social institutions entrusted with community health development and maintenance, rendering their efforts even less effective. Moreover, traditional harm reduction messages, especially 'fear campaigns', often act as a deterrent, rather than as an incentive, to harm reduction. Of more appeal are supportive harm reduction messages delivered by someone whom the recipient trusts, especially when the social meanings of sex, risk, trust and intimacy are, for many gay men, less fixed and more contingent than for the population at large. This means that attempts to modify risky behaviour must acknowledge and negotiate multiple meanings, shifting values and changing social climates, as well as routine epidemiological concerns. The research identifies four key themes within a problematic of trust, risk and intimacy, and delineates the harm reduction social complexities experienced by gay men in the study group; these recurring themes deal with family and early sociahzation, internalized homophobia, contingency and instability of meanings of risk, trust and sex, and the toistworthiness of the messengers of harm reduction strategies. Out of these recurring themes come a number of recommendations for remedial programs aimed at both mid- and long-term reductions in HIV incidence. The recommendations are grounded in the recognition that homophobic and/or dysfunctional social conditions are, to a great extent, implicated in sexual risk behaviour, and therefore must be eliminated or ameliorated before meaningful harm reduction gains can be realized. The discussions with the gay men in the study reveal their need for positive role models and communal social support in their efforts to combat HIV infection, suggesting a need to rethink the meanings of what it is to be gay, a need to redevelop and revitalize what was once a vibrant and cohesive corrimunity, and bearing in mind the lessons of the past, a need to re-approach the task of sternming the tide of HIV infection in ways that are sensitive to the factors that adduce high-risk sexual behaviour.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-09-29

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/13299

Sociology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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