Flashbacks to '80s homophobia affecting HIV test rates
A sexual health study has revealed that older gay men are less likely to get tested for HIV because they are haunted by homophobia dating back to the 1980s.
Last updated 9th Aug 2019
A sexual health study has revealed that older gay men are less likely to get tested for HIV because they are haunted by homophobia dating back to the 1980s.
Researchers from the University of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian University found out what different issues are related to HIV testing for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.
They found that for older men, higher levels of gay stigma were related to not testing for HIV.
Some of these men who are now in their late forties, fifties and sixties were having their first sexual experiences in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
The toxic homophobic culture of the 1980s has had a lasting and harmful effect on many men, because of the stigma they experienced.
Dr Jamie Frankis says that HIV was “a heavily stigmatised infection”.
Even booking an HIV test meant you "couldn't get life insurance or a mortgage".
He explains: “Homophobic stigma is having a negative impact on the health of our older men but not younger men who’ve lived through periods with less homophobia and greater equality.
“It is possible that older men are still troubled by the mass homophobia of the ‘80s and that is affecting their own testing behaviour. They could still be harbouring fears around HIV as a heavily stigmatised infection rather than the HIV of today, which is a highly manageable condition.
“There was also the introduction of the Section 28 clause during that period and of course gay sex was only decriminalised in the ‘80s in Scotland and Northern Ireland and the ‘90s in the Republic of Ireland. It was a very different socio-legal period for gay men than it is now. Living through those periods dictates the way you see yourself and interact with society.”
Researchers involved in the study were GCU’s Dr Jenny Dalrymple, Dr Jamie Frankis, Dr Kareena McAloney-Kocaman, and former GCU Professor Paul Flowers, now at the University of Glasgow and Professor Lisa McDaid, who has since moved to Queensland University in Australia.
“Our research showed that stigma was only associated with less recent HIV testing for older men. However, not identifying as gay was related to less HIV testing for men aged 26 and above.”
Men who do not identify as gay are also at risk of remaining undiagnosed as they don’t see themselves ‘at risk’ of HIV, however the Scottish Government advises all men who have sex with men to be tested every year.
Evidence suggests that 37% of HIV positive men in Scotland are currently undiagnosed.
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