Reflections on the history of bareback sex through ethnography: the works of subjectivity and PrEP

ABSTRACT

Throughout the history of bareback sex (condomless sex between men), ‘subjects’ have been created, particularly through scientific literature, to characterise the men who engage in the sexual practice. For example, a gay man who does not use a condom may be framed as a pathologised subject. This paper first presents this history. Afterwards, by relying upon ethnographic data such as interviews collected from fieldwork research done in Toronto in 2014 with young gay men who have bareback sex, it shows exactly how these young gay men related themselves to those subjects. Then, it focuses on the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) Truvada as a new HIV prevention technology. Although PrEP can allow condomless sex to occur while diminishing the risk of HIV transmission, at the time of the research, none of the young gay men were interested in using this tool despite being the subjects for whom the drug is tailored. This paper argues that PrEP and subjectivity are coproduced and can have conflicting meanings. This contradiction of meanings is a result of the various representations and symbols of bareback sex and the men who engage in the practice that have been produced throughout the history of bareback sex.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV/AIDS
• ethnography
• sexuality
• PrEP
• subjectivity

Ethical approval

This research was approved by the Research Ethics Board of the Office of Research Ethics and Integrity of the University of Ottawa which respects the ethical guidelines of Canada's Tri-councils (SSHRC, NSERC and CIHR).

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Ari Gandsman who was an amazing supervisor and mentor during my research. I would like to also thank my dear friend Elijah Herington who helped me edit my article. Many thanks to Vincent Mirza and Meg Stalcup who provided insightful comment on my research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.