Australian gay men’s regular relationships in the context of monogamy, non-monogamy, and HIV prevention

This thesis explores how Australian gay men negotiate their regular relationships, specifically in reference to coupled monogamy and non-monogamy and enacting HIV prevention strategies. The data on which this thesis is based were collected during a period of change in the socio-political and HIV prevention landscapes in Australia. Same-sex marriage was under consideration politically and biomedical HIV prevention was becoming more widely available and used among gay men. In consideration of these changes, it has become increasingly important to rethink understandings of gay men’s regular relationships and the contexts in which they are negotiated and experienced. This thesis draws on three data sets. The first utilises semi-structured interviews with Australian gay men to explore their understandings of the enactment of monogamy in relationships. The second utilises semi-structured interviews with men in serodiscordant relationships (those of mixed HIV status) to explore how understandings of HIV and risk affect practices within relationships. The third was a cross-sectional survey exploring understandings and beliefs about relationships among Australian gay men. The findings show that gay men’s relationships are unique and complex, both mirroring and departing from broad normative understandings of relationships. In particular, non-monogamy is common among gay men’s relationships and gay men may at some point be challenged to consider alternatives to monogamy, potentially reshaping their values regarding relationships. Such challenges present tensions and opportunities regarding how men negotiate fidelity and intimacy with relationship partners. In the context of these negotiations, biomedical prevention provides opportunities for gay serodiscordant couples to reconsider the meaning of the HIV to their lives, including how they practice HIV prevention. The findings also demonstrate diversity in relationship types that have implications for how research captures data about relationships. This thesis contributes a renewed understanding of how gay men understand and negotiate regular relationships in the context of substantial changes in Australia, both in how their relationships are perceived socially and politically, and in how HIV prevention is enacted