Identity, Expertise and HIV Risk in a Case Study of Reflexivity and Medical Technologies

Abstract

Using qualitative interviews with gay men with HIV and with reference to identity, expertise and HIV medical technologies, this article contributes to debate concerning the concept of risk reflexivity. Since the mid 1990s, people with HIV in the affluent, global North have had access to HIV treatment that substantially improves health. Recent research has expressed fears that, by satisfying hopes for effective treatment among affected citizens, HIV prevention will be undermined. This paradoxical idea has sharpened focus on how users apply knowledge regarding the effects of treatment on the risk of HIV transmission through sexual practice. This article argues that the concept of risk reflexivity has value because it draws attention to the limitations of extant assumptions about the users of HIV medical technologies. But this concept requires development in terms of the positioning of the person with HIV in risk reflexivity and the related mobilization of blame.