Masculinity and the persistence of AIDS stigma

Abstract

With the expansion of access to HIV testing and antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa, questions have emerged as to whether stigma remains a useful concept for understanding the effects of AIDS. There is, however, a paucity of research on how HIV-positive Africans--especially African men--experience living with AIDS. This paper addresses this gap and draws on findings from ethnographic fieldwork in 2004 and 2009 with a support group for HIV-positive men in Kampala, Uganda. The paper demonstrates that stigma is central to how men in this context coped with HIV and AIDS and it provides a conceptual framework that links men's experiences of AIDS stigma to conceptions of masculinity. In so doing, findings highlight both the possibilities and challenges of involving African men more fully in HIV prevention.