The Undoing and Doing of Sexual Identity among Heterosexual Men with HIV in Australia

Abstract

This article explores the tendency among heterosexual men with HIV in Australia to declare their sexual identity in a way that is otherwise atypical among heterosexuals. This apparent need to articulate heterosexuality tends to create a sense of discomfort within the local HIV sector, partly because it seems curiously anomalous, and partly because, on the face of it, it lends itself to a perception of homophobia. The author seeks to examine this phenomenon more closely in order to identify and unpack the meanings surrounding it. In doing so, the author draws on qualitative interviews with heterosexual men with HIV and on her long-term collaboration with an HIV health promotion service for heterosexuals living with HIV. The author argues that, to understand these men’s compulsion to name their sexual identity, we need to understand the intersections between the cultural force of heteronormativity and the profoundly homosexual history of the HIV epidemic in Australia, which brings into sharp focus the “undoing” and “doing” of heterosexual masculinity.