Philpot Steven P, Persson Asha, Prestage Garrett, Bavinton Benjamin R, Ellard Jeanne
Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Sociol Health Illn. 2020 Nov;42(8):1837-1857. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13171. Epub 2020 Aug 7.
Serodiscordant couples are often understood through a discourse of HIV-risk or researched in terms of the psychological stressors they face. However, due to antiretroviral treatments people living with HIV can achieve undetectable viral loads, which not only make them non-infectious to partners, but allow them to think of their lives and relationships as safe and viable. These realisations mean that serodiscordant couples often embrace an HIV 'normalisation' discourse. In this article, we argue that this discourse of HIV 'normalisation' can overlook the more nuanced complexity of issues still faced by couples today, which reveal how their experiences of 'normal' are sometimes challenged and are not necessarily 'normal'. Utilising semi-structured interviews with 21 gay men in serodiscordant relationships in Sydney, Australia, we draw on the concept of 'home' life to explore how men engage with discourses of normalisation to describe and enact their relationships. We argue that although HIV is managed well enough to be insignificant in the context of home life, experiences or anticipation of stigma in public often remind couples that they are yet to be considered 'normal' socially.
血清学不一致的伴侣通常通过关于艾滋病毒风险的论述来理解，或者根据他们所面临的心理压力因素进行研究。然而，由于抗逆转录病毒治疗，艾滋病毒感染者可以实现病毒载量不可检测，这不仅使他们对伴侣不具传染性，还使他们能够将自己的生活和关系视为安全且可行的。这些认识意味着血清学不一致的伴侣常常接受艾滋病毒“常态化”的论述。在本文中，我们认为这种艾滋病毒“常态化”的论述可能会忽视如今伴侣们仍然面临的更为细微复杂的问题，这些问题揭示了他们的“正常”体验有时是如何受到挑战的，而且不一定是“正常”的。通过对澳大利亚悉尼21对处于血清学不一致关系中的男同性恋者进行半结构化访谈，我们利用“家庭”生活的概念来探讨男性如何运用常态化论述来描述和践行他们的关系。我们认为，尽管艾滋病毒在家庭生活背景下得到了很好的控制，以至于变得无关紧要，但在公共场合经历或预期的耻辱感常常提醒伴侣们，他们在社会上仍未被视为“正常”。
