HIV criminalization is an amalgamation of a lot of things. It is ignorance overlaid with fear and underpinned by the need to exert power over the same people who are being feared. The parochialism of HIV—and therefore the outlawing of things otherwise considered normal and healthy outside the context of HIV—is infuriating.
Much of what I feel about criminalization is tied to my intersecting identities. My Blackness is always a reminder of the potential of criminalization, even in the most benign of circumstances. Continue reading...
