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Accepted Paper:

From moral laws to 'exclusion' of morality: narratives of a moralist stance in Swedish HIV prevention  
Fredrik Nyman (Jönköping University)

Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the landscape of Swedish HIV prevention where risk assessment and moral discernment intersect. It starts off at the ban of gay saunas in 1987 (considered a moral law by many) and moves on to the blood-safety regulations of today, where moral ruling is deemed as non-existent.

Paper long abstract:

Gay saunas were banned in Sweden in 1987, as they were seen as severe contaminations where "AIDS was allowed to be spread". The latter phrasing was an actual headline in a Swedish newspaper from October 1986. That feature is largely accountable for launching the so-called 'media uprising' that depicted the saunas as nothing but infectious sites, where immoral sexual behaviour was encouraged. Consequently, the following year, the Swedish parliament instituted a ban of "certain operations" - which directly targeted these saunas. The process was prompt, as the traditional referral procedure had been dropped.

The Swedish gay community strongly objected to this ban, calling it nothing but a moral law implemented to stop gay men from living 'sinful lives'; a civic moral outrage seeking to prohibit certain people from having sex (in certain ways) - rather than to prevent HIV from spreading. The said ban was not revoked until year 2004, after a three-year-long investigation had concluded that it no longer fulfilled its purpose.

Nowadays, moral laws are seen as something of the past. Authorities frequently state how their conducts are based on objective and fair science, unaffected by moral judgements. Yet, gay men are still marginalized in the passing by still being (indirectly) banned from donating blood, as same-sex practices still remain a severe high-risk behaviour. This paper sets out to discuss the narratives of a moralist stance in Swedish HIV prevention; ascertaining how actors have gone from condemning moral laws to instituting 'objective' and indisputable processes - without introducing any major alterations.

Panel Med03
Moral dimensions of health, illness, and healing in a globalised modernity
  Session 1