What is it about?

Although some identities may give people more privilege or power, other aspects of their identity may exclude them. This article shows how whiteness, class, professional standing, and sexual orientation influenced how two openly gay men experienced and responded to AIDS in the early years of the epidemic in apartheid South Africa.

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Why is it important?

This article draws on the intimate and personal narratives of two men to reveal how their specific narratives about, and experiences of, being 'white', gay men in a racist, homophobic, and repressive context link the emotional and personal, to the political and ideological.

Perspectives

This publication allowed me to share Dennis and Pierre's stories and show how discriminatory ideologies and a lack of political will have a direct impact on life, love, and death. Writing it allowed me to honour their stories, in all their complexities, and consider new ways of researching and writing about health concerns and how people experience and create them.

Assoc. Prof. Carla Tsampiras
University of Cape Town

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This page is a summary of: Two Tales about Illness, Ideologies, and Intimate Identities: Sexuality Politics and AIDS in South Africa, 1980–95, Medical History, April 2014, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/mdh.2014.7.
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