Culture

How Taking Naked Photos Of Yourself In The Shower Can Help Fight HIV/AIDS Stigma

This World AIDS Day, get nekkid.

by Simon Copland  1 December 2014

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Today is World AIDS Day, and a new craze of hot shower selfies is spreading across social media. Using the hashtag #weareALLclean, people are stripping off to break down stigma around HIV/AIDS. The campaign was kickstarted by American activist Jack Mackenroth, who posted his own hot selfie to get things going:

Mackenroth was followed by people from all over the world. Here are some of my favourites:

And of course, my own:

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What does #weareALLclean mean?

There is still significant stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. From nurses who are denied jobs after revealing their HIV status, to those who are treated like sexual pariahs, people with HIV/AIDS face misconceptions and fear on a daily basis — particularly in the gay community.

Check out the numerous gay dating apps, and you will find an array of people advertising themselves as ‘clean’ (i.e. HIV negative), and stating they are looking for ‘clean only’ partners. HIV/AIDS is seen as synonymous with being dirty. As Tyler Currey says in The Advocate, people with HIV/AIDS have been “cast down into a lower rung in the community, where they are expected to stay”. In Pride Source, Matthew Rodriguez says people often make the disease the whole identity of someone who is HIV positive. “People look at you as a status, as a virus,” he says. You are no longer a human, you are a dirty disease.

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A New Form Of Sex-Shaming        

Much of this stigma is connected to a history of sex-shaming; a history that the clean/dirty dichotomy plays directly into. We all face this sex-shame, whether HIV positive or negative. I’m sure I’m not the only person who hides upcoming STI tests; I don’t want friends to know I’m having regular, and potentially risky, sex (as all sex has an element of risk).

For centuries, different forms of sexual engagement, particularly for those in LGBTIQ communities, have been stigmatised. Unless it is between two straight people in the marital bedroom, sex is shamed. It was a form of judgement that proliferated during the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the ‘90s, when the sexual activity of gay men was shamed both by the outside world and their own community.

I have been guilty of this too. In an article I wrote last year, I proclaimed that gay men who engaged in condom-free sex were “fucking stupid”. My article was written out of frustration at what I perceived to be an increase in risk-taking behaviour among young gay men — risk-taking that, I believed, had little thought connected to it. I wrote it as a plea for men to think clearly about the risks they take during sex — a position I still hold strongly today.

In doing so, though, I joined the sex-shaming game, and added to the stigma suffered by gay men. As Nic Holas, who co-founded the peer-run group for HIV positive people The Institute of Many, kindly pointed it out to me, I missed the nuances of how people negotiate risk. I made it a black and white discussion between those who have “good sex” (with a condom) and “bad sex” (without). I ignored the many varied ways people have sex, from those who serosort (having sex with people who are the same status as them), to partners who bareback — but only after regular testing, and serious, honest negotiation.

I shamed those who have ever participated in condomless sex, in particular those who are HIV positive — practically calling them “fucking stupid” just for catching the disease in the first place. I added to a culture of fear that sends people who have engaged in condomless sex away from STI tests, and into hiding.

As Holas argued in his reply, I used sex as a weapon against gay men:

“The point I’m making is that sex has been used as a weapon against gay men by those who oppose our very existence. In response, we use our sex as a weapon against them: we own it, we celebrate it and we refuse to hide it away for fear of offending people.

“Or at least, we used to. The AIDS epidemic was devastating, not just because we lost a generation of (what would now be) wise elders to help us lead the way. AIDS was used to make us ashamed of the kind of sex we wish to have, but we’re now slowly reclaiming the territory lost to that dark time. What gave me pause about Mr Copland’s article is that he was using sex as a weapon against his own people.”

The sort of language I used exists around all types of sex. If you are promiscuous, go to sex-on-premises venues, are in polyamorous relationships or simply engage in negotiations around risk and protection, you are likely to have sex used as a weapon against you. Terms like ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ condemn people for catching HIV and other STIs, and for continuing to have sex after diagnosis. As Holas explained to me, “the whole clean/dirty thing taps into a deeper fear, that once you become [HIV] positive that is the end of your sex life”.

We have determined gay sex, non-marital sex, and sex with a person who has an STI to be dirty, and in turn shunned people who have engaged in it. In the meantime, we’ve restricted our own sexual freedom.

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Stigma Increases Infection

Research from the Kirby Institute this year found HIV infections in Australia are at a 20-year high. What is more worrying is that researchers believe that one in seven people who are HIV positive are not aware of their status; HIV infections are on the rise, and a significant chunk of people are not aware they have been infected.

Stigma is one of the key reasons behind these numbers. Fearful of what having HIV would mean not just for them physically, but socially and sexually as well, many people — gay men in particular — are not getting tested. This has huge impacts. Not only are people not being treated for HIV but, being unaware of their status, they are less likely to engage in risk-reducing behaviour, and are more likely to pass the disease on.

It’s not that gay men are not concerned about or aware of the risks. In fact, research shows that gay men know more about HIV than their straight counterparts, and are more likely to wear condoms as a means of protection. But stigma has dangerously simplified the issue; it has made discussion about HIV/AIDS one of whether you are ‘clean’ or ‘dirty’, or whether you engage in ‘good’ or ‘bad’ sex. This disempowers people. Those who are HIV negative are unable to ask the deeper questions that can lead to a greater understanding of the type of sex they are engaging in. Those who have an STI are removed from the sexual equation completely, whether they’re using protection or not.

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Getting Clean: Reducing The Dirty Stigma

Stigma is not, in general, an intentional thing. Grindr users who ask whether people are ‘clean’ are generally not intending to attack those with HIV — just as I wasn’t intending to stigmatise HIV positive people when I called it “fucking stupid” to not wear a condom.

But after years of fear campaigns and finger wagging, stigmatising language has crept further into our discourse. HIV positive people are still seen as something to fear. Their perceived identities have become wrapped up in their disease – therefore, to an outsider, they shouldn’t be allowed to have the same jobs, social interactions, or sex as the rest of us.

This is what is so great about #weareALLclean. The campaign is not about shaming; it’s about finding a way for people, HIV positive or negative, to come together to take ownership over language and our community. It challenges stigmatising language in a positive way, and speaks to a generation of people who weren’t around during the horror years of the 1980s and 1990s. On top of that it tackles the idea that we need fear to overcome the threat of HIV/AIDS — fear that has created the stigma that is driving HIV infections up around the world.

So on this World AIDS Day, get to your shower, take your selfie, and share with your friends. More importantly, think about your language. Using terms like ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ has a real, negative impact; we need to find new ways to talk.