Is HIV prevention creating new biosocialities among gay men? Treatment as prevention and pre-exposure prophylaxis in Canada.

The advancements of "treatment as prevention" (TasP), "undetectable viral load" (UVL) and "pre-exposure prophylaxis" (PrEP) are redefining HIV prevention standards. Relying on the concept of biosociality, this article explores how gay men rally around, debate, and sometimes disagree about these emerging HIV prevention technologies. This article is based on data from the Resonance Project, a Canadian community-based research project. Twelve focus groups (totalling 86 gay and bisexual men) were held in three Canadian cities (Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver) in 2013-2014. Respondents view UVL and PrEP through the prism of their generational experience of HIV prevention. In this respect, biosocialities highlight an experiential dimension that is tied to the context of the HIV epidemic. The biosocialities of HIV prevention are also built around serological identities. However, our study shows the diversity of these positions. Analysis grounded in biosocialities is useful for better understanding how scientific information circulates, is made sense of, and generates debate among gay men.