‘It takes two to tango’: HIV non-disclosure and the neutralization of victimhood*
| Author | Erica Speakman |
| Published date | 01 January 2019 |
| Date | 01 January 2019 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0269758018798063 |
Article
‘It takes two to tango’:
HIV non-disclosure
and the neutralization
of victimhood*
Erica Speakman
McMaster University, Canada
Abstract
There is a rich and fulsome literature on victims and the processes by which certain groups or
individuals come to be constructed as victims. Less attention has been paid to the rhetorical moves
employed as counter strategies by groups who seek to challenge victim status and the use of the
‘victim’ label for particular groups. Using the debates around the criminalizationof HIV non-
disclosure as a case study, the aim of this paper is to contribute towards a better understanding
of efforts to deny or neutralize victimhood. The paper identifies several strategies utilized by
individuals and groups, the object of which is to raise questions about the appropriateness of a
criminal response to HIV non-disclosure by constructing those who have had intimate encounters
with HIV non-disclosers as equally responsible for their circumstances rather than as victims of
non-disclosers.
Keywords
HIV, non-disclosure, criminalization, victims, social constructionism
Introduction
For over a decade, there has been an increasing trend in the direction of charging those who do not
disclose their HIV-positive status to their sexual partners with a criminal offence. The criminaliza-
tion of non-disclosure represents a departure from initial responses to the HIV epidemic which
emphasized a public health approach in dealing with such cases, along with campaigns aimed at
educating individuals about responsible and safe sex practices (Dej and Kilty, 2012; Mykhalovskiy
Corresponding author:
Erica Speakman,Department of Social Psychology,McMaster University,1280 Main Street West, Hamilton,Ontario L8 S 4L8,
Canada.
Email: hiltze@mcmaster.ca
* An earlier version of this articlewas published previously as part of the author’s doctoralthesis (Speakman, 2018).
International Review of Victimology
2019, Vol. 25(1) 37–51
ªThe Author(s) 2018
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0269758018798063
journals.sagepub.com/home/irv
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