The dossier “STIs, HIV/AIDS, gender, and sexualities: experiences, subjectivations, and politicizations,” organized by Mónica Franch (UFPB), Claudia Mora (CLAM/IMS/UERJ), Ivia Maksud (Fiocruz), Luís Felipe Rios (UFPE), and Lírio Ferreira do Nascimento (UFRN), has just been released, published in Revista Artemis, v.40, n.1 (2025).
The dossier brings together research, experience reports, and artistic productions that analyze HIV/AIDS as a social phenomenon, capable of producing discourses and practices that permeate issues related to gender and sexualities. The studies that make up the dossier discuss social and symbolic aspects related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, emphasizing stigma and discrimination, especially in health services and LGBTQIAPN+ sociability spaces, both in-person and digital. Part of the research gathered here was developed during the Covid-19 pandemic, which influenced both the methodological paths and the psychosocial experiences involved.
The dossier dialogues with a broad socio-anthropological tradition dedicated to the relations between AIDS, gender, and sexuality, giving visibility to the diverse ways of living with HIV, aiming to contribute to the understanding of the meanings attributed to sexual identities and practices, as well as their processes of politicization. The research also includes intersectional approaches that consider factors such as social, racial, and generational inequalities in illness and gaps in prophylactic public policies, especially among Black LGBTQIAPN+ youth.
The dossier consists of eleven articles, organized into three main axes: the first addresses issues related to subjectivities, mental health, artistic practices surrounding the theme, and care networks related to people living with HIV; the second analyzes aspects related to sociability, stigma, and resistance strategies; the third discusses public policies and sexual and reproductive rights, considering different contexts.
The article that opens the dossier, “The drama of the human condition in one’s own veins,” by Claudia Cunha, Miguel Álvarez, and Luciane Stochero, addresses the mental health of young people living with HIV. The text reflects on emotional balance, silences and silencings, as well as the ethics related to care. The research highlights the distance between public policies focused on mental health and the daily reality of people living with HIV, emphasizing the need for integrated care.
In the article “Everyone knows everyone,” Francisco Oliveira Neto and Luziana Silva reflect on the decentralization of HIV/AIDS in Primary Care in a municipality in the interior of Paraíba. The research highlights the challenges present in public policy processes that encompass diagnosis and follow-up actions, revealing stigmas and tensions.
The essay “The po(ethics) of AIDS and its movements in Derek Jarman’s Blue,” by Flávio Nantes, is dedicated to Jarman’s final film, which represents an artwork of resistance to stigma. The film is autobiographical and produces reflections on the ethics of life when facing the disease.
In the article “The way we live now,” Eliza Vianna performs an analysis of Susan Sontag’s short story, demonstrating that literature reveals experiences during the first decades of the epidemic. The article highlights the importance of LGBTQIAPN+ solidarity networks as forms of care and resistance in relation to HIV/AIDS.
Ingrid Melo Silva and Luís Felipe Rios, in the article “‘Padrãozinho with a poc soul’: sexual desirability among men who have sex with men and vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in the metropolitan region of Recife,” conduct an ethnography on sexual desirability among men who have sex with men in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, considering intersectional aspects. The research reveals that hierarchies related to embodiment, race, and class influence choices in the area of sexuality, as well as vulnerabilities to HIV, in male homoerotic relationships.
In the article “Swiping stigma,” Ana Beatriz Reis and Cíntia Oliveira investigate dating apps that promote encounters based on the promise of diversity, when, in practice, they reproduce traditional normativities, hierarchies, and gender roles, although they enable some forms of resistance.
Luciana Miranda and Ivia Maksud, in the article “Tensions and disputes over LGBTQIAPN+ blood donation: symbolic violence in health spaces,” examine the processes of blood donation by LGBTQIAPN+ people. The research reveals that even after the cancellation of discriminatory regulations, prejudices and discrimination against sexual minorities still persist.
In the article “Prevention in dispute: PrEP, biopower, and inequalities in HIV policy in Brazil,” Mayllon Lyggon Oliveira and Kátia Lerner analyze the contentions concerning public policies for HIV prevention. Based on Foucaultian inspiration, the authors analyze documents and reveal that such policies reinforce socio-economic, racial, gender, and territorial inequalities and advocate for preventive policies that articulate social justice and comprehensive health care.
Lídia Arnaud, Márcia Longhi, and Akim de Paula, in the article “Polyphonies: talking about HIV/AIDS in university extension,” based on the project developed at the Federal University of Paraíba, Falando sobre Aids (Talking about AIDS), reflect on university extension and the fight against stigma in relation to people living with HIV. The article highlights the importance of universities as spaces for the production of knowledge and the defense of human rights.
In the article “Sex work, mental health, and STIs: the vital and labor precariousness of men producing adult content on digital platforms,” Luiz Henrique Braúna Lopes de Souza addresses male sex work on digital platforms, revealing labor precariousness, the risks related to STIs, and the impacts on the mental health of these workers. The research emphasizes the urgency of public policies that promote health protection for workers in this field.
Closing the dossier is the article “Sexual and reproductive health care among youth in a Rio de Janeiro favela: what is the place of AIDS?”, by Mariana Barroso and Simone Monteiro, which analyzes sexual and reproductive health care for young residents of a Rio favela from the point of view of Primary Care professionals. The research reveals a lack of preventive actions for STIs, a concentration of services for women, and a low presence of young men seeking these services. The study emphasizes the importance of strengthening territorial actions aimed at expanding sexual and reproductive health care.
Access the full dossier here.
*Promotional text adapted from the introductory text of the dossier, authored by Mónica Franch (UFPB), Claudia Mora (CLAM/IMS/UERJ), Luís Felipe Rios (UFPE), and Lírio Ferreira do Nascimento (UFRN).