Research: Analysing the migration choices of HIV-positive gay men
Understanding where HIV-positive gay men choose to live and why, amid changing attitudes, therapies and life expectancy.
Summary
Research summary
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March 2018 to August 2020
The Analysing the Migration Choices of HIV-positive gay men in England and Italy (HIVGAYM) project aimed to understand more about where HIV-positive gay men choose to live and why.
Previous studies had shown a link between where people choose to live and HIV status. But they largely relied on quantitative methodologies or focused on moves before HIV infection.
HIVGAYM used qualitative research – interviews, an online survey, a theatre workshop and critical analysis of archive material – to understand the choices made after contracting HIV, taking account improvements in life expectancy.
Researchers also assessed the role of welfare services and social institutions in challenging the stigma of HIV. And they examined how stigma affected relocation decisions.
Other factors examined include:
- where the men were moving from - within a country, within the European Union or outside EU
- whether the men contracted HIV before or after effective anti-retroviral therapies became available in the mid-1990s
- the culture and lifestyle of the men studied - their relationships, friendship and love
Discrimination and stigma towards people living with HIV persist, despite proof that those on therapies with an undetectable viral load cannot pass it on.
Gay men continue to be over-represented among people living with HIV. For them, HIV-phobia intersects with homophobia, affecting their wellbeing and life choices.
Research outputs
Academic papers
- Di Feliciantonio, C and De Craene, V (forthcoming) Remapping desire: bringing back sex within geographies of sexualities, special issue of Gender, Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography
- Di Feliciantonio, C (forthcoming) Geografie social dell’HIV. Non rilevabilità, assemblaggi e corso della vita. Rome, DeriveApprodi.
- Di Feliciantonio, C (2021) (Un)Ethical boundaries: critical reflections on what we are (not) supposed to do. The Professional Geographer 73(3), pp 496-503
- Brown, G, and Di Feliciantonio, C (2021) Geographies of PrEP, TasP and undetectability : Reconceptualising HIV assemblages to explore what else matters in the lives of gay and bisexual men. Dialogues in Human Geography
- Di Feliciantonio, C and Dagkouly-Kyriakoglou, M (2020) The housing pathways of lesbian and gay youth and intergenerational family relations: A Southern European perspective. Housing Studies
- Di Feliciantonio, C (2019) Inclusion in the homonormative world city. The case of HIV-positive gay migrants in Barcelona. Documents d’Anàlisi Geogràfica, 65, pp 517-540
Team
Funding
With funding from
European Union
Contact
Contact us
For general enquiries about our Contemporary Intimacies, Sexualities and Genders research group, you can contact its leads Dr Christian Klesse and Dr Jenny van Hooff.
