The Mutable Dynamics of HIV-Prevention: Insights from Ontarian MSM on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP)

Pre-exposure prophylaxis or “PrEP,” is a cluster of methods that keep HIV-negative persons from contacting the virus. Effectively PrEP allows members of “high risk” communities a form of immunity against the virus. This thesis examines how PrEP is interpreted by men who have sex with men (MSM) PrEP users and non-users from south-east Ontario. Comparing the accounts of MSM users and interested non-users of PrEP, I examine barriers to implementation and how PrEP interacts with established methods of sexual hygiene and prophylactic preference. I examine how HIV-stigma is challenged by PrEP and challenges PrEP’s viability as a technology. I discuss how a successful implementation of PrEP as a mainstay of HIV prevention technologies stands to significantly impact HIV stigma and allows for forms of intimacy not afforded by current HIV technologies or safer sex practices.