“Monkeypox is Not a Gay Disease”: Sexuality, Public Health, and the Politics of Mpox

• In Event: 40458 - Social Dimensions of Infectious Disease

Abstract

Mpox (formerly “monkeypox”) is a viral disease endemic to Central and West Africa that became widespread globally for the first time in 2022. The U.S. quickly became the global epicenter, and the domestic outbreak was then largely contained by year’s end. With a focus on the U.S., this paper first describes how mpox came to be a “quasi-gay disease” epidemiologically, discursively, and politically during the global outbreak. Second, I analyze how the rise of mpox as a quasi-gay disease reanimated old public health debates and concerns about stigma, sex negativity, and neglect. In this analysis, I note continuities with early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis as well as new political configurations of sexuality, health, and the state. Third, I examine one such novel configuration: how, to an unprecedented degree, gay men were empowered and elevated as co-shapers of public health in mpox containment efforts, with some represented among the highest ranks of U.S. government public health officials and others working synergistically outside of government. I conclude by analyzing the potential promise and pitfalls of synergistic government and community efforts to contain mpox, including whether such synergies are stable across political administrations and how they might disrupt some but perpetuate other inequalities.

Author

• Jorge Ochoa, Northwestern University