Desvelando vivências e desconstruindo estereótipos: a sexualidade de homens gays solteiros que convivem com HIV/aids na cidade de Salvador.

Abstract

The study was conducted from a critical feminist perspective on gender relations and through an intersectional approach to masculinities, seeking to investigate how being single influenced the experience of sexuality and desire in gay men living with HIV/AIDS in the city of Salvador. The methodological approach adopted was qualitative and, for this reason, exploratory in nature, seeking to understand the investigated fact in its most varied aspects. To construct the data, questioning techniques were used, such as semi-structured interviews and online forms on social networks, through which four participants who met the selection criteria were reached. This number was considered adequate, since the focus was not on generalization, but rather on an in-depth understanding of the reality of these interlocutors/research subjects. The data were examined via content analysis and showed that the experiences surrounding sexuality for these men were marked by a diversity shaped by their single status, living with HIV, and homosexuality. Based on this categorization, desire emerges as a central thematic category for understanding sexual experiences; dating apps appear when talking about sexuality; and relationships express how dynamics in the field of affections can occur. When talking about meanings of sexuality, fear and reframing constituted valuable interpretive axes for thinking about desire. In this context, space and stigma were categories that brought important nuances to the analysis of dating apps; and the affective realm was an important category for understanding relationships—in the case of the study, the mode of interaction of these dynamics, not in terms of marital status, but rather affective-sexual interaction. In contrast to social prejudice, respondents reported feeling free and safe to live their sexuality, mainly because they overcame fears and prejudices with the support of health professionals who accompany them in public services and based on an understanding of the concept “Undetectable = Untransmittable” (U=U). In this sense, the study showed the role and importance of the SUS, especially in the context of quality public health, providing respectful and welcoming care by embracing the sexual and gender diversity of people living with HIV.