"Some Days It's the Best Thing . . . Some Days It's the Worst": Gay College Men Living With HIV Navigating the Meanings of AIDS

Abstract:

This queer narrative study examined the stories of two gay college men living with HIV and their relationship to HIV/AIDS. Foucault’s technologies of the self served as the conceptual framework. Technologies of the self are practices, strategies, and narratives participants used to resist the stigma-tizing symbolic violence of AIDS. The men practiced different yet interlocking technologies of the self. They took partial control of the meaning of HIV/AIDS in ways that improved their lives and helped them navigate college. However, homophobic AIDS signifiers resulted in them taking personal responsibility for HIV/AIDS rather than understanding it as a structural inequity, which limited them personally and academically. Higher education environments were a place of stigma and support, leaving the men unsure of how to navigate oppressive environments on campus. Implications for reframing college student identity theory, addressing AIDS stigma on campus and beyond, and supporting students living with HIV are provided.