Abstract

Research increasingly considers how collective narratives/experiences of HIV influence understandings of and responses to COVID-19 among men who have sex with men and how these discussions articulate with the larger literature on the social significance of epidemics. Drawing on interviews with 30 men who have sex with men, as well as discussion of epidemics as dramaturgical events, this study aimed to determine how men living in the USA make sense of COVID-19 in the light of their collective knowledge and/or memories of the HIV pandemic. Participants experienced progressive revelations regarding COVID-19’s seriousness and constructed frameworks with which to manage the unpredictability of infection. Participants also believed that the initial public response to COVID-19 on the part of the US federal government, health officials and the scientific community, although inadequate, was stronger and more extensive than the response had been to HIV. As communities and the USA negotiated their pandemic responses, participants negotiated their own personal responses with incomplete, uncertain, dynamic and conflicting information. This study provides evidence regarding the social organisation of a contemporary pandemic and how individuals perceive and guard against risk, assign responsibility for virus transmission and acquisition, and navigate the threat of a potentially deadly infection.

摘要

研究越来越多地考虑艾滋病毒的集体叙述/经历如何影响男男性行为者对 COVID-19 的理解和反应，以及这些讨论如何与有关流行病的社会意义的更广泛的文献联系起来。通过对 30 名男男性行为者的采访，以及将流行病作为戏剧性事件的讨论，本研究旨在确定生活在美国的男性如何根据他们的集体知识和/或记忆来理解 COVID-19艾滋病毒大流行。参与者逐渐了解了 COVID-19 的严重性，并构建了管理感染不可预测性的框架。参与者还认为，美国联邦政府对 COVID-19 的初步公众反应，卫生官员和科学界虽然不足，但比对艾滋病毒的反应更强大、更广泛。当社区和美国就他们的大流行应对措施进行谈判时，参与者用不完整、不确定、动态和相互矛盾的信息来谈判他们自己的个人反应。这项研究提供了关于当代大流行的社会组织以及个人如何感知和防范风险、分配病毒传播和获取责任以及应对潜在致命感染威胁的证据。