The effect of HIV-AIDS on the identity of ageing gay males

This paper considers whether the reality associated with HIV-AIDS in the 1980s and early to mid-1990s in the West--of premature ageing among people living with HIV-AIDS--still contributes to ageist attitudes in the gay milieu. It draws on data I collected from 21 gay interviewees in Sydney and New York, aged 40 and older. Using narrative identity theory, I discuss the five principal narratives this non-representative sample of 21 gay men drew on to explain the effect of HIV-AIDS on ageing in the gay milieu. Those narratives being that HIV-AIDS, (a) affected people's chance of reaching old age, (b) caused premature ageing, (c) increased the value with which old age and life in general were regarded, (d) was principally a young man's disease, and (e) was principally an older man's disease