‘I didn't think I was at risk’: Interdiscursive relations in narratives of sexual practices and exposure to HIV

This article is concerned with the discursive construction of sexual practices and ‘risk’ in gay men's accounts of exposure to HIV. The data are in-depth interviews from two Sydney-based studies. While the events reported in both studies were very similar, there are considerable differences in the language choices. Drawing on critical discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistics, this paper shows how language choices in individual narratives resonate intertextually with the public health discourse of safe sex, which emphasizes knowledge of safe sex, control over sexual practices and condom use. While in accounts of exposure to HIV in the context of prevention sexual practice is construed consistently as ‘doing’ with the speakers as Actor, in accounts of exposure to HIV in the context of transmission it is construed predominantly as ‘thinking’ and ‘being’. There are also differences in the negotiation of alternatives. All narratives resonate with the discourse of safe sex, however, it is not passively reflected in speech but is actively engaged with and shaped to fit the knowledge and understanding of individuals. The narratives also resonate with the private world of intimate relationships and everyday life. This suggests a notion of ‘risk’ as a hybrid of multiple, potentially conflicting discourses.