1 The ‘disease of love’: trajectories of women ageing with HIV in Switzerland
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Vanessa Fargnoli
Abstract
Women living with HIV who do not belong to epidemiological target groups (referred to as ‘key populations’) represent an invisible group of people who are often ignored in public and medical debates about HIV/AIDS. Additionally, sexuality related to ‘older’ people is often considered taboo, and sexual issues for ‘older’ women are mainly addressed from a clinical perspective. Considering that gender and sexual orientations have shaped the medical and social representations of the AIDS pandemic, the chapter discusses how ageing with HIV affects specifically women’s sexuality and love lives. This is based on the narratives and experiences of 30 women living and ageing with HIV in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.
Abstract
Women living with HIV who do not belong to epidemiological target groups (referred to as ‘key populations’) represent an invisible group of people who are often ignored in public and medical debates about HIV/AIDS. Additionally, sexuality related to ‘older’ people is often considered taboo, and sexual issues for ‘older’ women are mainly addressed from a clinical perspective. Considering that gender and sexual orientations have shaped the medical and social representations of the AIDS pandemic, the chapter discusses how ageing with HIV affects specifically women’s sexuality and love lives. This is based on the narratives and experiences of 30 women living and ageing with HIV in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Series editors’ introduction xi
- Foreword: Dare we hope for the erotic? HIV/AIDS, sexuality and ageing xxi
- Introduction 1
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Women
- The ‘disease of love’: trajectories of women ageing with HIV in Switzerland 11
- Beyond the biomedical: HIV as a barrier to intimacy for older women living with HIV in the United Kingdom 28
- ‘Everyone is on their own and nobody needs us’: women ageing with HIV in Ukraine 46
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Gay and bisexual men
- Chemsex among gay men living with HIV aged over 45 in England and Italy: sociality and pleasure in times of undetectability 67
- Freed from fear: reconstructing older gay male sexuality through PrEP – an account of a generational experience 84
- In the company of men: gay culture and HIV in Aotearoa New Zealand 102
- Growing old with stigma: a case study of four older Chinese gay/bisexual men living with HIV in Hong Kong 114
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Intersectional lives, multiple stigmas
- Out in Africa: facing the HIV other in Nairobi 139
- Survival of an older Bangladeshi lesbian experiencing intersectional vulnerability 159
- Sanjeevani: early ageing and HIV survival in queer Mumbai 174
- Afterword 191
- Index 194
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Series editors’ introduction xi
- Foreword: Dare we hope for the erotic? HIV/AIDS, sexuality and ageing xxi
- Introduction 1
-
Women
- The ‘disease of love’: trajectories of women ageing with HIV in Switzerland 11
- Beyond the biomedical: HIV as a barrier to intimacy for older women living with HIV in the United Kingdom 28
- ‘Everyone is on their own and nobody needs us’: women ageing with HIV in Ukraine 46
-
Gay and bisexual men
- Chemsex among gay men living with HIV aged over 45 in England and Italy: sociality and pleasure in times of undetectability 67
- Freed from fear: reconstructing older gay male sexuality through PrEP – an account of a generational experience 84
- In the company of men: gay culture and HIV in Aotearoa New Zealand 102
- Growing old with stigma: a case study of four older Chinese gay/bisexual men living with HIV in Hong Kong 114
-
Intersectional lives, multiple stigmas
- Out in Africa: facing the HIV other in Nairobi 139
- Survival of an older Bangladeshi lesbian experiencing intersectional vulnerability 159
- Sanjeevani: early ageing and HIV survival in queer Mumbai 174
- Afterword 191
- Index 194
