Race - The gay science: intimate experiments with the problem of HIV

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The Gay Science

Since the onset of the HIV epidemic, the behaviour of men who have sex with men has been subject to intense scrutiny on the part of the behavioural and sociomedical sciences. What happens when we consider the work of these sciences to be not merely descriptive, but also constitutive of the realities it describes? The Gay Science pays attention to lived experiences of sex, drugs and the scientific practices that make these experiences intelligible. Through a series of empirically and historically detailed case studies, the book examines how new technologies and scientific artifacts such as antiretroviral therapy, digital hookup apps and research methods mediate sexual encounters and shape the worlds and self-practices of men who have sex with men.

Rather than debunking scientific practices or minimising their significance, The Gay Science approaches these practices as ways in which we learn to be affected by HIV. It explores what knowledge practices best engage us, move us and increase our powers and capacities for action. The book includes an historical analysis of drug use as a significant element in the formation of urban gay cultures; constructivist accounts of the emergence of barebacking and chemsex; a performative response to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and its uptake; and, a speculative analysis of ways of thinking and doing sexual community in the digital context.

Combining insights from queer theory, process philosophy and science and technology studies to develop an original approach to the analysis of sexuality, drug use, public health and digital practices, this book demonstrates the ontological consequences of different modes of attending to risk and pleasure. It is suitable for those interested in cultural studies, sociology, gender and sexuality studies, digital culture, public health and drug and alcohol studies.

Kane Race is Associate Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. He is the convenor of the Queer Contingent of Unharm and the author of Pleasure Consuming Medicine: The Queer Politics of Drugs (2009).

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Sexuality, Culture and Health series

https://www.routledge.com/Sexuality-Culture-and-Health/book-series/SCH

Edited by Peter Aggleton, University of New South Wales, Australia
Richard Parker, Columbia University, New York, USA
Sonia Corra, ABIA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Gary Dowsett, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
Shirley Lindenbaum, City University of New York, USA

This series of books offers cutting-edge analysis, current theoretical perspectives and up-to-the-minute ideas concerning the interface between sexuality, public health, human rights, culture and social development. It adopts a global and interdisciplinary perspective in which the needs of poorer countries are given equal status to those of richer nations. Books are written with a broad range of readers in mind, and will be invaluable to students, academics and those working in policy and practice. The series also aims to serve as a spur to practical action in an increasingly globalised world.

Technologies of Sexuality, Identity and Sexual Health
Edited by Lenore Manderson

Understanding Global Sexualities: New Frontiers
Edited by Peter Aggleton, Paul Boyce, Henrietta L. Moore and Richard Parker

Men who Sell Sex: Global Perspectives
Edited by Peter Aggleton and Richard Parker

Sex and Sexualities in Contemporary Indonesia: Sexual Politics, Health, Diversity and Representations
Edited by Linda Rae Bennett and Sharyn Graham Davies

Culture, Health and Sexuality: An Introduction
Edited by Peter Aggleton and Richard Parker

The Gay Science: Intimate Experiments with the Problem of HIV
Kane Race

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The Gay Science

Intimate Experiments with the Problem of HIV

Kane Race

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First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2018 Kane Race

The right of Kane Race to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Race, Kane, author.

Title: Gay science: intimate experiments with the problem of HIV / Kane Race.

Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2018. | Series: Sexuality, culture and health series | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017014362| ISBN 9781138683822 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315544328 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: HIV infectionsAustraliaPreventionSocial aspects. | Gay menSexual behaviorAustralia. | Gay menHealth risk assessmentAustralia. | Health behaviorAustralia.

Classification: LCC RA643.86.A8 R33 2018 | DDC 614.5/99392086642dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017014362

ISBN: 978-1-138-68382-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-54432-8 (ebk)

Typeset in Garamond
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK

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This book is dedicated to Susan Kippax, for teaching us how to enjoy the empirical.

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The Gay Science is a gift. Working across art, economics, epidemiology, sociology, ethnography and critical theories of personhood and sexuality, Kane Race freshens up how we see the medical and sexual chemistry of contemporary gayness. Drugs and new media, parties and apps create new lifeworlds for sex and intimacymanaging them and revising the event of intimate encounters. Philosophically engaged and fun to read, The Gay Science feels out for ways to phrase queer sexualitys current transitional phase. Lauren Berlant, George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor, The University of Chicago, USA

In The Gay Science , Kane Race moves constantly, seamlessly, and elegantly back and forth between cutting-edge social theory and the new, intimate worlds of sex and drugs. His fine-tuned investigations of risks and pleasures reveal the intricate connections of biomedicine, criminal law, and new digital infrastructures in the forging of sexual practices and the regulation of sexual subjects. This fascinating and important book will ignite debate about the prospects for enacting what Race provocatively terms counterpublic health. Steven Epstein, Professor of Sociology and John C. Shaffer Professor in the Humanities, Northwestern University, USA

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This book began its life more than ten years ago when the topic of barebacking made me consider how to think about pleasure and risk. For his crucial interest, encouragement and guidance at that time I thank David Halperin, who helped me realise that I had things to discuss with people outside my world, that I was capable of doing so and that taking such a risk might actually be worthwhile. Special thanks also to Marsha Rosengarten and Gay Hawkins for their ongoing encouragement over the years, their extraordinary minds, the extensive feedback they have given me and the sustenance I have experienced in thinking with them.