Gay men deliberately exposing themselves to HIV in London

[Guest guest]

Gay men in HIV concern

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3095666.stm

 

 

By Jonathan Amos

BBC News Online science staff, in Salford

 

 

Some disaffected gay men in London are deliberately exposing themselves to

the HIV virus in the belief that it will give them a " badge " of belonging, a

researcher has claimed.

The claim was made by researcher Dr Melissa Parker, a medical anthropologist

at Brunel University.

 

 

There is no cure for HIV

Parker is studying sexual networks and HIV transmission in the capital and

says anecdotal evidence from in-depth interviews is revealing deeply

disturbing information about some individuals' behaviour.

 

She says traditional safe sex messages are failing to reach these vulnerable

men and the authorities appear reluctant to address their problems head on.

 

Multiple partners

 

This could be because their sexual practices if discussed openly are likely

to shock mainstream society and promote homophobia.

 

These activities involve visiting so-called backrooms in pubs and other

venues where men can engage in unprotected sex with multiple partners.

 

Dr Parker told the British Association science festival that several hundred

men could pass through these backrooms each day, with some individuals

having sex with 30 to 40 partners on any one visit.

 

" The prevalence of HIV in the UK among men who have sex with other men

continues to rise and, in part, this can be attributed to the fact that HIV

is being transmitted with a deliberate recklessness in the backrooms of

London's pubs, clubs and saunas. "

 

Controversially, she claimed some men were deliberately trying to catch HIV

in their search for identity.

 

Soft data

 

" There is a significant number of men who struggle with being gay, " Dr

Parker told the BBC. " They long to belong. They can't help putting

themselves in vulnerable situations where they might acquire the virus.

 

" There is a tendency for some men to say 'now I'm HIV positive, I am truly

gay'. They want to get into that caring more supportive world and the

acquisition of a diagnosis is obviously going to help them do that. "

 

Dr Parker conceded she had no solid data to back up this claim - only the

comments of many gay men she had spoken to during long interviews conducted

over a period of years.

 

She said there was an urgent need to develop an effective intervention

strategy that made unsafe sex in backrooms unacceptable and unavailable.

 

Commenting, the Aids charity the Terrence Higgins Trust said it was deeply

sceptical about Dr Parker's assertions.

 

It said the Brunel researcher had no real evidence to support her remarks

and their only effect would be to increase prejudice against gay men.

 

 

 

 

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