'Between what is said and what is done': Cultural constructs and young gay men's HIV vulnerability

Abstract

This community-based, participatory inquiry mobilized peer ethnographers to observe their own scene and to conduct a series of focus groups in a project aiming to renew HIV prevention programming for young gay men. Ethnographers were provided training and guidance in qualitative research procedures in a process that evolved over months of observation and reflection. Eleven focus groups were conducted, totalling 71 participants. Local gay press was used to invite community feedback by voicemail. Pointed questions probed cultural sensitivities. Several layers of analysis were conducted to identify HIV vulnerabilities. Analysis of 'reality constitutive' talk revealed several culturally constructed HIV vulnerabilities, summarized as follows: individual-extraordinary challenges of personal development over gay men's life course; interpersonal-the unspoken grounds of gay relationships; social-the state of gay culture with respect to society and its local impact; structural- the transience of life in a west coast city. The use of peer ethnographers in developing knowledge for local HIV prevention generated significant data and had a transformative effect on all participants. Ethnographic field work and ethnomethodological analysis demonstrated considerable usefulness in uncovering cultural interpretations of young gay men's HIV vulnerabilities and what may be done about them.