CONFRONTING DEADLY DISEASE

Abstract

Based on data from an interview study of 19 gay men with AIDS-related diagnoses, this article considers how persons with AIDS (PWAs) construct and negotiate the meaning of their illness. Given the stigma and liminality associated with their condition, PWAs typically experience a variety of problematic emotional and social reactions. In an effort to counteract the dilemmas evoked by these reactions, they engage in various types of identity management, including defensive strategies which allow them to avoid potentially threatening interactions and forms of embracement which enable them to affirm an AIDS-related identity and to integrate it with other valued aspects of self. The interview data suggest that PWAs are increasingly likely to engage in embracement as the illness progresses and as they become more extensively involved in PWA support networks. These networks provide resources, affiliations, and ideologies which facilitate the construction of more vitalizing identities.