Word on the Street: PrEP Use By Gay and Bisexual Men

Craig Washington

Atlanta, Ga.

I think that PrEP is a new, additional "tool," as they say. It's yet another mode of prevention that we could add as part of a multi-pronged approach for prevention, particularly with gay men. Since we've learned over the years that a method, or an approach, that is excessively condom-centered is not working. There are people, for any number of reasons, from actual, informed choice to certain constraints that people live under, including anything from sex work to not being necessarily able to negotiate condom use with partners, to just, you know, not finding condoms pleasurable, and, again, in an informed way, in a way that exercises sexual agency, who are choosing not to use condoms.

I think that, again, PrEP offers somewhat of a back-up. And, it's not an either/or. I think that's the point to make, is that we have to move away from this very binary notion of prevention, and give people options and give people a menu. And, at the same time, so, PrEP is not meant to be used as a replacement for any particular strategy. It's meant to back up those strategies, or those other tools.