HIV vulnerability and the erasure of sexual and gender diversity in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
Glob Public Health
; 11(7-8): 994-1009, 2016.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26894990
ABSTRACT
In the fight against concentrated HIV epidemics, men who have sex with men (MSM) are often framed as a homogeneous population, with little attention paid to sexual and gender diversity and its impact on HIV vulnerability. This article draws on ethnographic research conducted in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire among les branchés - a local term encompassing several categories of same-sex desire and practice. In the context of increased HIV prevention programming targeting Ivoirian sexual and gender minorities, such diversity is effectively erased. This obfuscation of difference has particularly negative impacts for travestis, who may be at higher risk for HIV infection, though research and prevention efforts in which they are grouped with 'MSM' render them underrepresented and make their vulnerability difficult to quantify. Branchés whose class and/or ethnic backgrounds compound their stigmatised status as sexual and gender minorities also bear the burden of this exclusion. Furthermore, some branchés deploy 'MSM' as a form of self-identification, further complicating who such categories represent. By highlighting the ways in which constructions of gender and sexuality within HIV/AIDS programming obscure complex social realities, I aim to reorient thinking around the development of purposeful HIV programming that engages the complexity of sexual and gender minority experience.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Bisexualidad
/
Infecciones por VIH
/
Educación en Salud
/
Homosexualidad Masculina
/
Trabajadores Sexuales
/
Minorías Sexuales y de Género
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
Aspecto:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Límite:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
País/Región como asunto:
Africa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Glob Public Health
Asunto de la revista:
SAUDE PUBLICA
Año:
2016
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos