HIV/AIDS and PrEP: the case of Brazilian male sex workers in Portugal

Abstract

The discussion presented in this article is part of a broader reflection stemming from an investigation into the sex work of Brazilian men in Lisbon, Portugal, and Europe. This research was characterized as a multi-sited ethnography, although Lisbon served as its main base. The fieldwork was conducted across 10 European countries between September 2020 and March 2023, involving observations of various situations, informal conversations, and semi-structured interviews in different ethnographic contexts. The study’s interlocutors included 30 Brazilian escorts, 4 frequenters of Lisbon’s “gay nightlife,” and 4 clients of Brazilian escorts, all of whom were engaged through different entry points into the field. One of the first observations in the field was that there is still much to problematize regarding male sex work in Portugal. However, agency may serve as an insightful analytical lens to understand the particularities of this niche within sexual economies, especially within the framework of a moral economy. In this article, I aim to reflect on a recurring theme in the field: human immunodeficiency virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. I seek to explore some of the displacements observed and the persistent challenges surrounding this topic in the context of male sex work, particularly concerning the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis as a harm reduction strategy.