Gendered Experiences of Living with HIV in Australia

Vicki Hutton

doi:10.3390/sexes2030020

Abstract

Globally, women represent more than half the people living with HIV. This proportion varies by country, with an over-representation of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) in some regions. For example, in Australia, MSM account for over 60% of transmissions, with heterosexual sex accounting for almost a quarter of transmissions. Irrespective of geographic region, there is evidence that women can have a different lived experience of HIV due to their unequal social and economic status in society, while MSM can have a different lived experience depending on the laws and customs of their geographic location. Gender differences related to risk factors, stigma, access to services, mental health, health-related quality of life and economic consequences have been consistently reported globally. This paper explores the subjective lived experience of gender and sexuality disparities among three individuals living with HIV in Australia: a male who identified as gay, and a male and female who each identified as heterosexual. Analysis of themes from these three case reports indicated discernible differences by gender and sexuality in four areas: access to medical services, social support, stigma and mental health. It is argued that knowledge and understanding of potential gender and sexuality disparities must be factored into supportive interventions for people living with HIV in Australia.

Highlights

The current paper explores the subjective lived experience of gender and sexuality disparities among three individuals living with HIV in Australia: a male who identified as gay, and a male and a female who each identified as heterosexual
HIVpositive individuals aged 18 years and over were invited by recruitment flyers distributed through Australian capital city AIDS councils, hospital infectious disease (ID) clinics, support services for people living with HIV, and HIV community newsletters to participate in an anonymous online survey using the online survey software, SurveMonkey [10]
The three individuals described in the current paper were selected as representative of the three demographic responder groups in the qualitative study, and met two criteria: (1) all three received a formal HIV diagnosis at a similar time to minimize disparities in the medical management of HIV; and (2) they provided detailed gender- and sexuality-related information both unprompted throughout the interview as well as in response to the open-ended general question asking if there was anything further they wished to add on their experiences as a gay male/heterosexual female/heterosexual male living with HIV in Australia

Summary

Introduction

Epidemiological patterns among the 38 million people currently living with HIV worldwide indicate that their lived experience can differ according to a mix of factors including gender, sexuality, region, race, age and income [1]. While women account for more than 50 per cent of people living with HIV worldwide [3], this proportion varies by country, ranging from around 10 per cent in Australia [4] to 25 per cent in USA [5], to girls aged 15 to 19 years accounting for five in six new infections in sub-Saharan Africa [1]. In higher income countries such as North America, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand, men who have sex with men (MSM) have dominated epidemiological patterns of HIV transmission since the start of the pandemic in the 1980s [6]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion