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Abstract
Sexual health has made its way into the larger agenda of the discipline of geography, as an increasing number of geographers tackle issues related to the transmission of HIV as well as other sexually transmitted infections. A recent initiative by the Association of American Geographers also emphasizes the study of drug use in the discipline. Despite the increased attention sex practices and drug use have recently received, social geographers need to do more to foreground the theoretical insights that can be gained from interrogating the intersections of power and human–nonhuman relations that are part and parcel of these everyday practices. In so doing, social geographers can pry open the debates on subjectivity and everyday practice that currently reside more prominently in the field of cultural geography. Drawing broadly on primary and secondary research from Southeast Asia, this paper examines how health geographers in particular, and social and cultural geographers more generally, might ground their conceptual work on sociospatial identities and subjectivities through a more thorough engagement with the complex geographies of sex practices and drug use. This paper concludes with a discussion of a broader long-term research agenda that interrogates the interrelationships among the geographies of sex, drugs, and sexual health.
sansanté sexuelle a apparu dernièrement parmi le plus grand programme de la discipline de géographie au mesure qu'un nombre accroissant de géographes aborde les questions liées à la transmission du VIH ainsi que les autres MST. Une initiative récente déclenchée par l'Association des Géographes Américains (Association of American Geographers) met l'accent elle aussi sur l'étude dans la discipline de la consommation des stupéfiants. Malgré l'attention augmentée récemment reçue par les actes sexuels et la consommation des stupéfiants, les géographes sociaux devraient aller plus loin pour souligner les idées théorétiques qu'on peut dégager d'une interrogation les entrecroisements du pouvoir et les rapports entre ce qui est humain et ce qui ne l'est pas qui font partie de ces pratiques quotidiennes. En faisant ceci, les géographes sociaux peuvent développer les débats sur la subjectivité et la pratique quotidienne qui se jouent actuellement un rôle plus important dans le domaine de la géographie culturelle. Cet article se sert largement des recherches primaires et secondaires menées dans l'Asie du sud-est pour examiner comment les géographes sociaux et culturels en général et les géographes de santé plus particulièrement pourraient baser leur travaux conceptuels sur les identités socio-spatiales et les subjectivités à travers une rencontre plus approfondie avec les géographies complexes des pratiques sexuelles et la consommation des stupéfiants. Cet article conclut avec une discussion d'un plan de recherche plus large à long terme qui interroge les points de rencontre entre les géographies du sexe, des drogues, et de la santé sexuelle.
Últimamente el salud sexual ha llegado a la agenda más amplia de geografía, como un numero aumentado de geógrafos se trabajan con temas relacionados a la transmisión de VIH también como otras enfermedades de transmisión sexual. Una iniciativa reciente por la Asociación de Geógrafos Americanos también enfatizó el estudio del uso de drogas en la disciplina. A pesar de la atención aumentada que las practicas de sexo y el uso de drogas han recibido, geógrafos sociales necesitan hacer más para enfocar en las perspicacias teoréticas que uno puede adquirir al interrogar las intersecciones de poder y relaciones humano y no-humano que son parte de estas practicas cotidianas. Al hacer esto, geógrafos sociales pueden abrir los debates de subjetividad y practicas cotidianas que actualmente residen de manera prominente en el campo de geografía cultural. Llevando de investigaciones primarias y segundarias de Sudeste Asiático, este articulo se examina como geógrafos del salud particularmente y geógrafos sociales y culturales en general, pueden fundar su trabajo conceptual en identidades socio-espaciales y subjetividades a través un involucramiento más minucioso con las geografías complejas de practicas del sexo y el uso de drogas. Este articulo se concluye con una discusión de una agenda más amplia a largo plazo que se interroga las interrelaciones entre las geografías de sexo, drogas, y salud sexual.
Acknowledgements
I want to thank everyone who supported me through the writing of this paper, particularly Catherine Brooks. I would also like to offer special thanks to Chris Moreno and Rob Wilton, who invited me to participate in this special issue. I am especially appreciative of the thoughtful and engaged comments of the three anonymous reviewers and Michael Brown, who provided insightful and well-guided comments. Of course, any missteps along the way are my own.
Notes
1. The HIV rates among IDU remain incredibly high in Thailand, with recent epidemiological surveys demonstrating an almost 40 per cent HIV rate among IDU in urban environments in the country. It is clear that after almost thirty years of prevention work that IDU, and other minority populations, remain marginal to the larger HIV prevention and health care efforts.
2. There is an important geography to the different types of ATS use. Smoking is common among recreational youth users, particularly in the North (Sherman et al. Citation2008); while injection use is concentrated in different cohorts and spaces, such as prison populations and among IDU in Bangkok (Degenhardt et al. Citation2010). Recent studies have also shown that crystalline methamphetamines may be more addictive than other forms of the drug (McKetin, Kelly, and McLaren Citation2006). Treatment has been shown to be effective in the context of methamphetamine use (Perngparn et al. Citation2011).
3. Also see discussions in health geography regarding studies of the body and bodily engagements in Parr (Citation2004).
4. Lyttleton (Citation2000) creates a much more dynamic picture of sex and sexuality in his discussion of the regional complexities of sexualized and gendered identities in Northeastern Thailand in comparison to Northern Thailand, where most of the work on sex, sexuality, and sexual health has historically taken place in rural Thailand.
5. I was taken to a more expansive venue in 1999 by a number of nongovernmental workers as well, suggesting that this was not simply a matter for mid-level government bureaucrats but a wider issue.