How do people feel after disclosing their HIV status on social media?

Recent qualitative research with a small group of White gay and bisexual men in Australia found that they had chosen to talk about their HIV status on social media in order to control the narrative, challenge stigma and maintain a sense of agency. Instead of seeing it as responsibility to disclose, these men viewed it as a right to share their status.

While the act of disclosing one’s HIV status is usually viewed as a highly confidential and selective process, social media platforms provide the opportunity for people living with HIV to share their status to a much larger group of people. HIV disclosure is often accompanied by feelings of anxiety may result in stigmatisation of a person living with HIV. However, many people living with HIV have also described disclosure as empowering and have used it as a form of activism and a way of dismantling HIV-related stigma.

Biomedical advances such as PrEP and U=U have eased some of the fears related to infectiousness and have therefore enabled easier disclosure. Social media opens new possibilities for talking about having HIV, but this form of disclosure may also present unique risks and challenges to people living with HIV.

Read the full story at Aidsmap.