Narratives of gay men con(living) with hiv: thinking about masculinities, intersectionalities and health

Abstract

hiv/aids remains a central public health issue, intersecting biomedical, social, cultural, and political dimensions. In Brazil, despite advances in access to antiretroviral therapy, structural challenges persist, marked by stigma, inequality, and vulnerability. This article, based on a postdoctoral research project, investigates how different masculinities are mobilized by gay men living with hiv in the construction of meaning around themselves and health care. The analysis considers how social markers such as generation, race, and class influence these experiences, revealing that care practices and representations are inseparable from ways of being a man in contexts shaped by gender, sexuality, and power norms. Ethnography was adopted as the main methodological approach, and the analytical framework draws on the concepts of intersectionality and the sociocultural determination of health. The results show that experiences with hiv are deeply shaped by discourses on masculinities, influencing how care is understood, practiced, and claimed. By placing the debate on masculinities at the center of the analysis, the study contributes to expanding the field of hiv/aids studies, reinforcing the need for public policies that recognize the complexity of the experiences and subjectivities of historically marginalized men.