PrEP has been around for over a decade, and yet, somehow, some still hold a stigma against it. In fact, PrEP has been maligned since the beginning. Just a few years after PrEP hit the market, Michael Weinstein, President of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, made waves when he called PrEP “a party drug.”
Even some medical providers have been criticized as potential sources of PrEP stigma. Now, as the Trump administration scrutinizes disbursement of PrEP abroad, PrEP discourse has reared its head on X once again. Death, taxes, and gay guys posting their hot takes on sexual health online, I guess.
It all started a few weeks ago when one account wrote a vaguely anti-PrEP post.
“Focus on yourself king,” they wrote, as if to suggest pursuing someone on PrEP was a waste of time simply because they’re on the medication, and must therefore be incorrigibly promiscuous. The replies streamed in. Most disagreed, but an alarming contingent seemed to sympathize.
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The kicker? That first post was quickly labeled “satire” by the original poster after they faced considerable backlash.
In the early days of PrEP, some PrEP users were labeled “Truvada Whores” because they wanted to have condomless sex. The name stuck for some time, but the argument—that people taking Truvada are being reckless with their sexual health—doesn’t hold much water. Wouldn’t taking PrEP, being proactive, and getting regularly tested for STIs paint a picture of someone who was very responsible about their sexual health? The thinking behind these posts are based on that same flawed argument from over a decade ago.
To be clear: there is nothing inherently wrong with being promiscuous—in fact, I’m a big fan of promiscuity. If someone is taking steps to decrease their risk of acquiring HIV or another STI, that should be applauded.
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PrEP is for anyone who is HIV-negative, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, because anyone who is HIV-negative is theoretically at risk for HIV.
For anyone genuinely worried that PrEP will “gigaliquify” your liver, you can rest assured: All existing formulations of PrEP are very safe (Truvada is as safe as taking daily aspirin) and serious issues are rare. People taking PrEP see their medical providers every two to three months, so issues—if they happen—are usually caught early and the effects are generally reversible.
Posts like these reveal just how deeply HIV-phobia is ingrained in our culture. The construction of promiscuity as an “issue” in HIV prevention—even within the queer community—dates back to the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, and, paradoxically, it impedes efforts to promote safer sex. Stigma around PrEP is serious, too. Although PrEP has been heralded as a major part of ending the epidemic, studies show that stigma around taking PrEP has slowed uptake of the drugs.
There will always be someone online posting “satire” that is in fact not-so-thinly-veiled anti-promiscuity rhetoric. Rest assured that their thinking (and ironic, aloof posting) has more to do with their own views of sex, intimacy, and pleasure than any objective truth. The bottom line is that PrEP is a major beneficial scientific breakthrough, and stigma against it only inhibits our efforts to end HIV.