No. 71 (2026): Medicamentos en América Latina: perspectivas antropológicas
Dossier

Social representations and medicalization processes in homosexual men: experiences with antiretrovirals for HIV treatment and prevention

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  • Carlos Alberto González Navarrete
Carlos Alberto González Navarrete
Universidad de Guadalajara

Published 2026-03-24

Keywords

  • care,
  • biopolitics,
  • subjectivation,
  • ad- herence

How to Cite

González Navarrete, C. A. (2026). Social representations and medicalization processes in homosexual men: experiences with antiretrovirals for HIV treatment and prevention. Alteridades, 36(71), 61–73. Retrieved from https://alteridades.izt.uam.mx/index.php/Alte/article/view/1549

Copyright (c) 2026 Carlos Alberto González Navarrete

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This article offers a  comparative  analysis of the experiences of gay men who use antiretroviral drugs (ARVs)
either for hiv treatment or as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), with the aim of  understanding how social
representations and processes of medicalization are constructed. Using a qualitative ethnographic-narrative approach, eleven interviews  were conducted in Mexico City and Guadalajara between January and April 2025 and analyzed through thematic and interpretive strategies. The findings show that ARVs  function as ambivalent cultural objects: in treatment contexts, they are experienced simultaneously as life-saving technologies and sources of bodily burden under biomedical
surveillance; in preventive contexts, they are framed as tools for autonomy, pleasure,  and shared care, albeit shaped by moral stigma and institutional tensions. The study has important implications for public health policies, highlighting the need for culturally informed, non-stigmatizing prevention and care strategies that recognize agency, desire, and lived  experience. Overall, the article demonstrates that ARVs mediate not only health outcomes but also subjectivities, care practices,
and forms of health citizenship.

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