Of Bodies, Borders, and Barebacking: The Geocorpographies of HIV

Abstract

Whereas the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive Global South body is placed within a zone of antiretroviral exclusion, the “at-risk” HIV-negative body in the Global North is able to occupy a zone of viral exclusion through the incorporation of the emergent biomedical intervention of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). PrEP exemplifies the e℞otics of HIV, whereby pharmaceutical technologies immunise against both the transmission of the virus and the social contract of disavowing erotic pleasure in favour of individual and collective sexual health. This chapter situates PrEP and its cultural articulation within the context of the geocorpographies of HIV, illustrating how immunity separate..