Gay men and HIV/AIDS risk management

ABSTRACT This article presents a framework through which changes in the management of HIV/AIDS risks among British gay men may be conceptu-alized. Three distinct periods of risk management are outlined. First, a ‘con-fused ’ period in which the aetiology of AIDS and its cultural impact were poorly understood. Second, a ‘somatic ’ period is described in which discourses linking HIV risk to the body became prevalent (following the ‘discovery ’ of the HIV virus). Finally a third, ‘technological ’ period is described which stresses the impact of recent social and medical technologies in the contem-porary management of both HIV and AIDS risks. The privatization, fluidity and development of HIV and AIDS ‘risks ’ are discussed with particular refer-ence to notions of surveillance medicine, processes of ‘othering ’ and the attri-bution of both responsibility and blame