Bareback Sex: Masculinity, Silence, and the Dilemmas of Gay Health

Abstract

Improving interpersonal communication skills has become an increasingly important aspect of HIV prevention strategies, based on the notion that this will contribute to more consistent condom use. The emergence of “barebacking” (intentionally unprotected casual sex among gay men) has foregrounded the limitations of such strategies. Efforts to encourage talk run counter to the ways in which silence is valued within bareback sex culture and serves to construct specifically masculine forms of pleasure and desire. This paper draws on gender analysis and phenomenology to consider how prevention organizations can come to grips with this dilemma by re-examining their own ways of interacting with the communities they serve. Using a range of examples, it explores ways organizations can work around barriers to interpersonal communication by enhancing their own ability to converse with community members on issues such as bareback sex.