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‘HIV Both Starts and Stops with Me’: Configuring the Neoliberal Sexual Actor in HIV Prevention

Sexuality & Culture volume 23, pages 657–673 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

This article argues that newer HIV prevention campaigns and health promotions that focus on reaching the public with information on how to prevent HIV infections or treat them once a person becomes HIV positive are mainly built upon the rationale of what has been called ‘a neoliberal sexual actor’. The sexual actor being represented is predicated upon the tenets of a neoliberal subject wherein market choice, rational risk analysis, personal responsibility, and personal entrepreneurship are in focus. Whereas many of the newer health promotions are built upon the tenets of neoliberalism, these health promotions while being both inclusive in terms of sexualities and racialized identities nevertheless play on neoliberal ideals that may or may not be available for the people who are most vulnerable in terms of HIV risk. The article ends up by arguing that while many of these health promotions are both ‘sex-positive’ and avoid the specter of ‘risk’ and ‘infection’ and rather play on neoliberal concepts, they nevertheless also leave behind those that for whatever reasons cannot comply with or access these tenets. In an era when the HIV effort strongly plays on a rhetoric of ‘leaving no one behind’ such an overt focus on the neoliberal concepts of free choice, market freedom, personal responsibility, and ‘rational’ risk calculation, might end up leaving behind the most vulnerable people within the HIV epidemic.

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Notes

  1. For the full biography of the HIV Stops with Me campaign, see http://hivstopswithme.org/about/.

  2. See New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website, https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/aids/ending_the_epidemic/.

  3. See the NYC Health website for the ‘Play Sure’ promotion, https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/hiv-besure-playsure-staysure.page.

  4. See YouTube for examples of videos with the search criteria’s of ‘Play Sure’ and ‘HIV’, https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=play+sure+HIV.

  5. See the Play Sure website, https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/hiv-besure-playsure-staysure.page.

  6. See the Play Sure website, https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/hiv-besure-playsure-staysure.page.

  7. See the Play Sure website, https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/hiv-besure-playsure-staysure.page.

  8. See the Play Sure website, https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/hiv-besure-playsure-staysure.page.

  9. See the Play Sure website, https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/hiv-besure-playsure-staysure.page.

  10. See the Play Sure website, https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/hiv-besure-playsure-staysure.page.

  11. See the Play Sure’s website for information on the kit itself, https://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/5500/play-sure-kit.

  12. See the YouTube video in its entirety here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3ErsNQiZUA.

  13. See the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjfMj3FQULk.

  14. See http://www.thebody.com/content/75525/new-york-citys-new-hiv-awareness-campaign-shows-in.html for full image.

  15. See the promotional agency’s own webpage for the entire imagery, https://desireekennedyproductions.wordpress.com/2015/12/15/i-bet-by-now-you-have-seen-the-nyc-plays-sure-campaign-on-the-subway/.

  16. http://hivstopswithme.org/about/.

  17. http://hivstopswithme.org/treatment-info/.

  18. http://hivstopswithme.org/treatment-info/.

  19. http://hivstopswithme.org/treatment-info/.

  20. http://hivstopswithme.org/treatment-info/.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the journal editor as well as the anonymous reviewer who gave invaluable advice and whose comments really lifted the article as a whole.

Funding

This study was done in connection to post-doctoral research work at the place of employment of the author, but no specific funding grant was funding this study.

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  1. Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Health and Society, University of Oslo, Forskningsveien 3a, 0373, Oslo, Norway

    Tony Sandset

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Sandset, T. ‘HIV Both Starts and Stops with Me’: Configuring the Neoliberal Sexual Actor in HIV Prevention. Sexuality & Culture 23, 657–673 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-018-09584-1

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Keywords

  • HIV/AIDS
  • Neoliberalism
  • PrEP
  • Prevention
  • Health promotions