“Reservoirs of venereal diseases,” “MSM” and “PWA”: continuities, ruptures and temporalities in the production of bioidentities in the context of the AIDS epidemic

Abstract

This article examines the continuities, ruptures and temporalities in the production of bioidentities in the context of the HIV-AIDS epidemic. Based on a multi-site study at the confluence of biomedical areas and sub-areas that rose in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, it questions the common research agendas under the influence of terms and categorizations popularized during the sexual panic of AIDS caused by the increase in contagion rates and death. The methodological design is characterized as mixed methods and primarily involved documental research and thematic review on academic production in the areas and disciplines included under the aegis of the biosciences, in order to search for and select primary studies on homosexuality and HIV/AIDS, through global production. The conclusions attest that the management of AIDS in its treatable chronic condition produced elective and correspondence affinities between epidemiological and social categories (MSM/PWA, GMLA) with defined notions of gender and sexuality.