Koester Kimberly A, Erguera Xavier A, Kang Dufour Mi-Suk, Udoh Ifeoma, Burack Jeffrey H, Grant Robert M, Myers Janet J
Division of Prevention Science, Center for AIDS Prevention Research, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
East Bay AIDS Center, Sutter Health, Oakland, CA, United States.
Front Public Health. 2018 Sep 6;6:250. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2018.00250. eCollection 2018.
The use of HIV serostatus information has played a pivotal role in partner selection norms. A phenomenon known as is the practice of selecting a partner based on a perception that they are of the HIV status in order to avoid transmission from one partner to the other. An understudied aspect of serosorting is that it has a divisive effect-one accepts or rejects a potential partner based on a singular characteristic, the partner's HIV status, and thus excludes all others. This division has been formally referred to as the HIV . In this study, we explored partner selection strategies among a group of HIV-negative, young men who have sex with men ( = 29) enrolled in a PrEP demonstration project in Northern California. We found that trends in serosorting were in fact shifting, and that a new and opposite phenomenon was emerging, something we labeled "seromixing" and that PrEP use played a part in why norms were changing. We present three orientations in this regard: (1) : in which men justified the continued vigilance and exclusion of people living with HIV as viable sex or romantic partners, (2) : among men who were reflecting on their stance on serosorting and its implications for future sexual and/or romantic partnerships, and (3) a: among men letting go of serosorting practices and reducing sentiments of HIV-related stigma. The majority of participants spoke of changing or changed attitudes about intentionally accepting rather than rejecting a person living with HIV as a sex partner. For those who maintained strict serosorting practices, their understandings of HIV risk were not erased as a result of PrEP use. These overarching themes help explain how PrEP use is contributing to a closing of the HIV serodivide.
Commun Med (Lond). 2025-5-3
Cult Health Sex. 2017-12
J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2017-3-1