the findings reported here draw on answers to questions added to the two major cohort studies of hiv - positive people in ontario , the ontario hiv treatment network cohort study ( ocs ) ( http://www.ohtncohortstudy.ca/ ) ( n  =  959 ) and the positive spaces , healthy places cohort study ( pshp ) ( http://www.pshp.ca/ ) ( n  =  442 ) plus in - depth qualitative interviews with 122 ocs participants . drawing from all three data sources allows for broad representation of people living with hiv in accord with the epidemiology of hiv prevalence in ontario as measured by risk group , age , gender , sexual orientation , and ethno - cultural origin . of the 122 interviews , 8 were conducted in french in ottawa , the rest being in english in toronto ( n  =  93 ) and ottawa ( n  =  21 ) where 83% of hiv - positive people in ontario live .
ten interviews were with people who had some kind of direct experience with the criminal justice system either as complainants , defendants ( including some who were convicted of charges related to non - disclosure or exposure to hiv ) , or former sex partners contacted by police for testimony in hiv - related trials .
the cohort surveys asked study participants about their expectations of casual sexual partners to disclose to them and then of their own disclosure practices with partners . as well
the pattern of response was then analyzed for variation by a range of demographic categories : age , ethnicity , language of interview , income , education , sexual orientation , gender , as well as having had a casual sexual partner in the previous three months .
a subset of ocs study participants , broadly representative of the demographics of hiv prevalence in ontario , were then invited to be interviewed to gain further insight into perceptions of disclosure expectations and responsibilities .
questions asked about recent sexual interactions and the circumstances leading to ( non)disclosure , as well as a subsequent specific question , there is a lot of debate about people s responsibility to disclose their hiv status .
do you think there are circumstances when someone with hiv should be charged with a crime , and perhaps sent to prison , for ( a ) having oral sex without a condom without telling ?
, ( b ) for having unprotected vaginal or anal sex without telling sexual partners he or she has hiv beforehand ? , ( c ) for having unprotected sex with an undetectable viral load ?
interviews were transcribed and examined for common themes using constant comparative analysis with nvivo software .
the study proposal was reviewed in accord with the tri - council policy statement : ethical conduct for research involving humans by research ethics boards at the university of windsor and the university of ottawa .
a community advisory committee with representatives from hiv - positive people , aids service , and legal organizations plus the provincial ministry of health assisted the development of the research project .
an honorarium of $ 30 was provided to interview participants in recognition of time and travel expenses .
overall , study participants from the three data sources have the following demographic characteristics shown in table 1 .
questions added to the two large cohort studies show the expectations of people living with hiv regarding their disclosure to sexual partners and partners disclosure to them ( table 2 ) .
since ocs study participants could check off more than one rationale regarding the decision to disclose , the pattern of multiple responses was also examined .
the most frequent overlap of responses was 15 of those who indicated it was not necessary to tell a partner because they had protected sex , also checked off that they tell some partners that they were hiv - positive but not others . statistical analysis ( pearson  
 ) of the pshp data reveals some variation in attitudes and practices in different populations .
overall 18.3% do not expect a sexual partner to disclose hiv status but this varies by sexual orientation with gay men having less expectation ( 26.7% ) , followed by bisexual men ( 23.1% ) , heterosexual men ( 10.0% ) , and finally heterosexual women having the greatest expectation that sexual partners will disclose ( 5.1% ) ( p  =  .015 ) .
the ocs data show a similar pattern but with even higher numbers of gay men not expecting disclosure : gay men ( 40.2% ) , bisexual men ( 27.6% ) , heterosexual men ( 11.5% ) , and heterosexual women ( 10.7% ) .
this same variation is evident by ethnicity where a greater proportion of african , caribbean , and aboriginal populations are female or heterosexual when compared to white study participants .
the expectation that sexual partners will not disclose is 20.3% among white people , 11.1% among african and caribbean people , and 8.9% among aboriginal people ( p  =  .048 ) . for the ocs ,
the comparable numbers are 33.3% among white people , 17.0% among african and caribbean people , and 25.0% among aboriginal people ( p  <  .01 ) . with hiv - negative partners and partners of unknown hiv status , 44.7% of pshp respondents told all partners that they are hiv - positive , while 32.4% had no partners of this type ( 48% of ocs respondents report no partners who were hiv - negative or of unknown status ) . between 1 and 9% report alternative strategies to disclosure , including not telling any partners , telling some partners , and dropping hints about hiv status .
others feel it is unnecessary to tell because they had protected sex , because partners should presume everyone is positive , because a partner was willing to have unprotected sex , or because it is a partner s responsibility to use a condom if he or she wants to . between 3 and 6%
unemployed respondents in the pshp cohort are more likely not to disclose ( 10.3% , p  =  .008 ) , to drop hints ( 8.5% , p  =  .016 ) , to feel disclosure is unnecessary with protected sex ( 15.4% , p  =  .009 ) , and to be afraid to disclose ( 21.4% , p  =  .003 ) .
gay and bisexual men are a little more likely to disclose to only some partners ( bisexual 19.2% , gay 11.3% , p  =  .020 ) , to drop hints ( gay 7.2% , p  =  .047 ) , and to feel disclosure is unnecessary with protected sex ( 12.0% , p  =  .031 ) .
compared to those without casual partners , respondents with casual partners are more likely to tell only some partners ( 13.9% , p  <  .0001 ) , feel it is unnecessary to disclose with protected sex ( 16.4% , p  <  .0001 ) , feel it is unnecessary to disclose because a partner should presume everyone is positive ( 8.0% , p  =  .002 ) , because a partner is willing to have unprotected sex ( 5.5%,p  =  .013 ) , or because it is a partner s responsibility to use a condom ( 7.5% , p  <  .0001 ) .
this finding is comparable to a recent study in british columbia that found lower rates of disclosure among those reporting sex with a stranger ( hirsch allen et al . , 2014 ) .
most hiv - positive people in this survey , then , either disclose to , or do not have , partners who are hiv - negative or of unknown status .
non - disclosure strategies and assumptions are reported by relatively small sets of people with some variation according to employment status , sexual orientation , gender , ethnicity , and having had a casual partner .
how these disclosure strategies work in everyday life is revealed in interviews where context and conflicting dynamics create situations that prove difficult to navigate .
several people articulate the double bind created by the obligation to disclose and fear of rejection , leading to emotionally fraught choices in deciding to disclose .
one interviewee , who was prosecuted for non - disclosure , reflects on the tension inherent in disclosure decisions.i went through a depression because now i was totally alone .
i do nt remember how many women , but a number of women for many years and i did nt tell them  well after i found out i was positive , it was hard for me to disclose .
i felt if i told anybody that i would be judged and nobody would want to be close to me again .
it took me a couple years of program to realize that was a very selfish move 
i was afraid i was going to lose her and i did nt want to tell her .
i did nt know what to tell her and i did nt want to because i was afraid if i told her , you ll walk away , you ll never see me again and i would lose and i was nt trying to get you sick like me or trying to get you infected or anything .
i do nt remember how many women , but a number of women for many years and i did nt tell them  well after i found out i was positive , it was hard for me to disclose .
i felt if i told anybody that i would be judged and nobody would want to be close to me again .
it took me a couple years of program to realize that was a very selfish move 
i was afraid i was going to lose her and i did nt want to tell her .
i did nt know what to tell her and i did nt want to because i was afraid if i told her , you ll walk away , you ll never see me again and i would lose and i was nt trying to get you sick like me or trying to get you infected or anything .
( 041 , african / caribbean , heterosexual , male , 40s ) others experience disclosure as an obligation that runs against a tacit norm of silence around hiv questions : a few times i have disclosed or they ve asked me flat out ,  are you positive or negative? and i will tell them but often it s not discussed .
guys do nt want to talk about it , whether they re positive or negative .
it kind of kills the romance or the sort of kind of hotness of the potential for getting together .
( 013 , white , gay , male , 50s ) 
 as far as i can see , from people i ve talked to , i d say 99.9% of the people never tell anyone they re positive , unless they re asked .
( 011 , white , gay , male , 50s ) 
  a few times i have disclosed or they ve asked me flat out ,  are you positive or negative? and i will tell them but often it s not discussed .
guys do nt want to talk about it , whether they re positive or negative .
it kind of kills the romance or the sort of kind of hotness of the potential for getting together .
( 013 , white , gay , male , 50s ) as far as i can see , from people i ve talked to , i d say 99.9% of the people never tell anyone they re positive , unless they re asked .
( 011 , white , gay , male , 50s ) the result is a tendency to engage in a tacit dance of assumptions and intuitions , along with reading of context , in order to assess the viability of disclosure in personal interactions.the last time was in a bathhouse situation .
although we did nt exchange words in the situation , we both kind of knew where we were coming from .
( 006 , african / caribbean , gay , male , 40s ) 
  the last time was in a bathhouse situation .
so there was already a bit of a connection . although we did nt exchange words in the situation , we both kind of knew where we were coming from .
( 006 , african / caribbean , gay , male , 40s ) considerable effort may go into testing the waters to determine how understanding the other person may be .
one study participant describes the disclosure process as one of feeling  under siege in a context where disclosure may elicit a stigmatizing reaction.the whole night i talked about fashion cares , hiv , act [ aids committee of toronto ] , me doing outreach .
( i : like you did as much as possible without saying it to infer that you were ? ) it might sound like beating around the bush but i really did kind of like  i mean do i have to fucking write it on my forehead for real ?
i probably told more before but now , i m very wary because i do nt know  sometimes when i m chatting to somebody i ll kind of drop some hints and if they do nt seem to pick it up , then i ll just walk away because i ll say , well i do nt think this person is positive , so you know what , i m just going to leave it  people who are hiv that i ve had discussions with , also feel under siege and maybe less likely to bring up some things or just to look for totally anonymous sex where not even your name is asked .
( 078 , white , gay , male , 40s ) 
  the whole night i talked about fashion cares , hiv , act [ aids committee of toronto ] , me doing outreach .
( i : like you did as much as possible without saying it to infer that you were ? )
it might sound like beating around the bush but i really did kind of like  i mean do i have to fucking write it on my forehead for real ? ( 054 , white , gay , male , 50s )
i probably told more before but now , i m very wary because i do nt know  sometimes when i m chatting to somebody i ll kind of drop some hints and if they do nt seem to pick it up , then i ll just walk away because i ll say , well i do nt think this person is positive , so you know what , i m just going to leave it  people who are hiv that i ve had discussions with , also feel under siege and maybe less likely to bring up some things or just to look for totally anonymous sex where not even your name is asked .
( 078 , white , gay , male , 40s ) for some , reading the situation , especially in a gay context where men are presumed to be largely in the know about hiv issues , can lead to the inference that the other may also be an hiv - positive man who is cautious about disclosing.if someone wants to do something unprotected , that s a big signal .
it s someone s telling you ( pause ) by action , not verbally , that they are hiv .
( 022 , white , gay , male , 40s)from a gay s perspective , we know generally , you know , when i do nt ask or they do nt ask , it s a given we re both hiv and we re going to have probably unprotected sex 
if he says , i ll only play wrapped , then i will respect that and play wrapped .
( 069 , white , gay , male , 40s ) 
  if someone wants to do something unprotected , that s a big signal .
it s someone s telling you ( pause ) by action , not verbally , that they are hiv .
( 022 , white , gay , male , 40s ) from a gay s perspective , we know generally , you know , when i do nt ask or they do nt ask , it s a given we re both hiv and we re going to have probably unprotected sex  if he says , i ll only play wrapped , then i will respect that and play wrapped .
( 069 , white , gay , male , 40s ) sometime tacit assumptions can lead to misunderstanding or to the perception of outright deception reported by some individuals as the circumstance that led to their own exposure to hiv : i asked him if he had ever been tested and  like the phrasing i would have used was ,  are you clean? and then i went and got all my tests done and then he was like , 
i did that too. what the fuck , you did nt do it , do you know what i mean ? and he did nt .
( i : so then you just come back and you say , i m good ? )
i m good , now you want to  because i was trying to go through all the like motions of like now we re going to be in this monogamous relationship .
( 073 , white , queer , female , 20s)i went in for standard blood work because it s required by our insurance company and they said , 
well you re hiv - positive, and i said that s impossible because i ve only been playing around with two people and one is my partner of four years and the other one is a friend of ours .
i found out he knew he had it and he s telling everybody he does nt .
( 018 , white , gay , male , 40s ) 
  i asked him if he had ever been tested and  like the phrasing i would have used was ,  are you clean? and then i went and got all my tests done and then he was like , 
i did that too. what the fuck , you did nt do it , do you know what i mean ? and he did nt .
( i : so then you just come back and you say , i m good ? )
i m good , now you want to  because i was trying to go through all the like motions of like now we re going to be in this monogamous relationship .
( 073 , white , queer , female , 20s ) i went in for standard blood work because it s required by our insurance company and they said , 
well you re hiv - positive, and i said that s impossible because i ve only been playing around with two people and one is my partner of four years and the other one is a friend of ours .
i found out he knew he had it and he s telling everybody he does nt .
( 018 , white , gay , male , 40s ) those interviewed for this study , then , point toward a number of circumstances and factors that make routine disclosure a complex and emotionally difficult accomplishment .
perhaps most fundamental is the difficulty of setting oneself up for rejection in the process of seeking affection and support .
some perceive that they are required to rupture a norm of silence or at least feel obliged to ease prospective partners into the realization that they may be positive .
disclosure is an undertaking fraught with emotional pitfalls complicated by personal histories of having misread cues or having felt deceived leading up to their own sero - conversion , then having to negotiate a stigmatized status with new people.whenever i tell somebody , the person run away so this creates a very huge problem for me .
( 023 , latin american , heterosexual , male , 50s)i was raised a certain way and i got infected at the age of 18 .
15  years i ve had to deal with this , 15  years of being dumped because i disclosed or guys do nt want to be with me or 
you know , it hurts , it damn well hurts and i know it does .
( 055 , white , gay , male , 30s ) 
  whenever i tell somebody , the person run away so this creates a very huge problem for me .
( 023 , latin american , heterosexual , male , 50s ) i was raised a certain way and i got infected at the age of 18 .
15  years i ve had to deal with this , 15  years of being dumped because i disclosed or guys do nt want to be with me or  you know , it hurts , it damn well hurts and i know it does .
some seek to resolve disclosure problems by pursuing other hiv - positive people for sexual or romantic connection . at the same time , a good many express reluctance to have unprotected sex even with other hiv - positive people ( adam , husbands , murray , & maxwell , 2005).my strain might be totally different than your strain and while i may pick up your strain and it may not cause me any further ill effects , it may produce a rather nasty new strain that i m capable of passing on or vice versa . or it may have a hell of an impact on my drug regimen .
( 002 , white , gay , male , 60s)i wo nt infect him with my hiv and i certainly do nt want to get infected with his hiv 
if i have to go on his medication at some point , i do nt want to be immune to it 
it pisses me off when they know they re hiv - positive and they re out there infecting person after person after person and they know it .
( 015 , white , gay , male , 40s)if i have sex with somebody who is positive , i do nt want she s kind of virus , strain , to have it .
( 030 , african / caribbean , heterosexual , male , 30s ) 
  my strain might be totally different than your strain and while i may pick up your strain and it may not cause me any further ill effects , it may produce a rather nasty new strain that i m capable of passing on or vice versa . or it may have a hell of an impact on my drug regimen .
( 002 , white , gay , male , 60s ) i wo nt infect him with my hiv and i certainly do nt want to get infected with his hiv  if i have to go on his medication at some point , i do nt want to be immune to it 
it pisses me off when they know they re hiv - positive and they re out there infecting person after person after person and they know it .
( 015 , white , gay , male , 40s ) if i have sex with somebody who is positive , i do nt want she s kind of virus , strain , to have it .
( 030 , african / caribbean , heterosexual , male , 30s ) others believe that when having sex with a partner who is also hiv - positive , safer sex is less of a concern or experience a sense of relief at no longer having to feel like  a pariah.i got mixed up and had a bit of a crystal meth problem and through that , i met 
there s a whole community of guys who  were just on disability , never worked , did nt seem to want to work again .
i think part of it for me was just for so many years i had drummed into my head ,  you ve got to have safe sex, and then suddenly to me the whole group of people who  you do nt feel like you re a pariah or everybody was just fine with it [ unprotected sex ] .
( 020 , white , gay , male , 40s)i will admit to being fairly flexible or accommodating of the other person s wishes to go barrier free .
it s probably reflective of the fact that condoms are nt a terrible amount of fun and i m guilty i guess of being all too happy to go along with it .
( 042 , white , gay , male , 30s)online i ve already posted , so
but generally i clarify like  by the way , i m positive. if the [ hiv - positive ] person is open to not using condoms , that s their choice and i m not going to fight them on that .
( 089 , asian , gay , male , 20s ) 
  i got mixed up and had a bit of a crystal meth problem and through that , i met 
there s a whole community of guys who  were just on disability , never worked , did nt seem to want to work again .
i think part of it for me was just for so many years i had drummed into my head ,  you ve got to have safe sex, and then suddenly to me the whole group of people who  you do nt feel like you re a pariah or everybody was just fine with it [ unprotected sex ] .
( 020 , white , gay , male , 40s ) i will admit to being fairly flexible or accommodating of the other person s wishes to go barrier free .
it s probably reflective of the fact that condoms are nt a terrible amount of fun and i m guilty i guess of being all too happy to go along with it .
( 042 , white , gay , male , 30s ) online i ve already posted , so most of the time they ve read it and sometimes they havent .
but generally i clarify like  by the way , i m positive. if the [ hiv - positive ] person is open to not using condoms , that s their choice and i m not going to fight them on that .
( 089 , asian , gay , male , 20s ) the pressure to disclose , then , produces a disparate array of effects in everyday interaction : heightened fear of rejection that makes disclosure even harder to accomplish , indirect or partial disclosure , readings of tacit signs and assumptions about partners sero - statuses , and avoidance of the need to disclose by pursuing other hiv - positive partners .
many study participants reflect on the meaning of responsibility in hiv exposure or transmission . for many ,
their sense of responsibility is consistent with a larger societal  rhetoric of individualism , personal responsibility , consenting adults , and contractual interaction , a 
moral reasoning widely propagated by government and business today that constructs everyone as a self - interested individual who must take responsibility for himself in a marketplace of risks ( adam , 2005).im an adult , they re an adult .
you take responsibility for yourself and if you give me something , it s my own fault for having sex with you and not finding out .
( 011 , white , gay , male , 50s)when people have sex , they should always protect themselves .
you re responsible for yourself and that s why i do nt understand why they re being charged .
( 017 , aboriginal , gay , male , 40s)you have to take some responsibility for your life some place .
we ca nt have a nanny state where everything is just perfect  you re not mentally incapable and you re not being raped and you re not being forced in to this ; nobody is bending your arm .
you re having sex because you want to have sex so why are you not taking care of yourself ?
( 021 , white , gay , male , 50s ) 
  i m an adult , they re an adult .
you take responsibility for yourself and if you give me something , it s my own fault for having sex with you and not finding out .
( 011 , white , gay , male , 50s ) when people have sex , they should always protect themselves .
you re responsible for yourself and that s why i do nt understand why they re being charged .
( 017 , aboriginal , gay , male , 40s ) you have to take some responsibility for your life some place .
we ca nt have a nanny state where everything is just perfect  you re not mentally incapable and you re not being raped and you re not being forced in to this ; nobody is bending your arm .
you re having sex because you want to have sex so why are you not taking care of yourself ?
( 021 , white , gay , male , 50s ) many of the men interviewed articulated a strong sense of individual obligation where responsibility should not be conceived as exclusively or primarily a problem falling to hiv - positive people and that all have a responsibility for their own health.its a personal choice that you choose .
you have to live by the consequences of our decisions right . that s the way i look at it .
( 024 , african / caribbean , gay , male , 40s)i do nt think the onus should be on the person who s positive necessarily or the person who knows that they re positive .
( 054 , white , gay , male , 50s)you know what decisions you take  you have to be responsible yourself for your own decisions .
i m not there to impose my thoughts on anybody  he should nt go to prison for that .
it s for the other person to force , the other person to say ,  put on a condom. ( f14 , white , gay , male , 30s ) translated from french . 
 
you have to live by the consequences of our decisions right . that s the way i look at it .
( 024 , african / caribbean , gay , male , 40s ) i do nt think the onus should be on the person who s positive necessarily or the person who knows that they re positive .
( 054 , white , gay , male , 50s ) you know what decisions you take  you have to be responsible yourself for your own decisions .
i m not there to impose my thoughts on anybody  he should nt go to prison for that . it s for the other person to force , the other person to say , 
put on a condom. ( f14 , white , gay , male , 30s ) translated from french .
it is noteworthy that male voices are strongly represented in these constructions of the self as an autonomous male actor responsible for protecting himself against hiv . in many ways , then , dominant discourses circulating in neoliberal societies provide moral precepts and rationales for individualized constructions of responsibility that preclude a need for disclosure , notions consistent with longstanding messaging on safe sex from aids service organizations to treat all prospective sex partners as potentially hiv - positive .
others express a sense of responsibility embedded in collective or interpersonal loyalties rather than individualism.i have no shame whatsoever .
i am very open about it and it s the first thing i tell anybody . if they ask me , fine , or i ll mention it .
i mention the fact i m gay , i mention the fact i m hiv - positive .
the positive person is the responsible one 100% and the other person maybe 50 or 70% for the negative person for their responsibility too .
( 016 , white , gay , male , 60s)what shocked me was the fact that somebody would have sex with another person without letting him or her know that they re hiv and that there s a possibility of transmission .
i have a lover that i ve been with for 46  years and we still have sex .
he is not hiv and he does not have hep c. we do it in such a way that there is no transmission or whatever of fluids , even though my counts in hiv have been undetectable for the last 8 or 10  years and now the hep c is down to supposedly zero .
the fear of passing something on unknowingly or knowingly has become part of my life .
( 001 , white , gay , male , 60s ) 
  i have no shame whatsoever .
i am very open about it and it s the first thing i tell anybody . if they ask me , fine , or i ll mention it .
i mention the fact i m gay , i mention the fact i m hiv - positive .
the positive person is the responsible one 100% and the other person maybe 50 or 70% for the negative person for their responsibility too .
( 016 , white , gay , male , 60s ) what shocked me was the fact that somebody would have sex with another person without letting him or her know that they re hiv and that there s a possibility of transmission .
i have a lover that i ve been with for 46  years and we still have sex .
he is not hiv and he does not have hep c. we do it in such a way that there is no transmission or whatever of fluids , even though my counts in hiv have been undetectable for the last 8 or 10  years and now the hep c is down to supposedly zero .
the fear of passing something on unknowingly or knowingly has become part of my life .
( 001 , white , gay , male , 60s ) a tension between individualized and collective notions of responsibility circulates through a number of the narratives , reflecting the lineaments of moral reasoning in the larger society ( rangel & adam , 2014 ) .
constructions of the self as individual actors in a marketplace of risk co - exist with the  sexual etiquette developed in gay communities throughout the aids era of care of the self and other through safer sex ( weeks , 1995 ) . in casual sexual encounters , where partners may not be well known , marketplace presumptions come to the fore in a sexual field ( green , 2014 ) characterized by brevity and anonymity
. combined with the difficulties of disclosure , individualized notions of responsibility may gain the upper hand .
as court cases have acquired extensive media attention over the last decade , that coverage in turn has influenced the general public , risk populations , and hiv - positive people .
the result has been a feedback loop , accelerating through the 2000s , where criminal prosecutions for failure to disclose hiv status have generated publicity that has implicitly instructed the public on how to respond to hiv .
one participant in this study testifies thatmy ex was charged and he was found guilty 
( i : charged by you ? ) no  it was really like the police that put it in my head to charge which was kind of like weird and fucked up .
( 073 , white , queer , female , 20s ) 
  my ex was charged and he was found guilty  ( i : charged by you ? ) no  it was really like the police that put it in my head to charge which was kind of like weird and fucked up .
( 073 , white , queer , female , 20s ) when official agencies like the police and public health  put it in my mind to prosecute , then criminalization rises to the status of a primary response to hiv transmission rather than a recourse of last resort . at the same time
, increasing reliance on the criminal justice system to enforce a principle of near universal disclosure of hiv - positive status , even when transmission is unlikely , presses hiv - positive people into an untenable double bind : they must place themselves into the risky position of heightening the possibility of rejection , stigmatization , and prosecution .
double binds constitute a shaky foundation for consistent practice and for effective public policy . as interviews with people living with hiv show ,
examination of everyday disclosure decisions shows a range of incommensurable rationalities that shape these decisions such as personal ethics and morality , ethical precepts circulating in the larger society , the fear of rejection , degree of intimacy between partners , and capacity for self - assertion , as factors in disclosure dynamics .
this in turn leads to ways in which notions of responsibility figure in the reflections of people living with hiv .
the gap between these everyday practices and situations on the one hand and the rational deterrence presumptions of criminal justice proceedings on the other point towards ways in which the criminalization of hiv may work at cross - purposes to effective hiv prevention . perhaps paradoxically , the elevation of disclosure as a strategy of hiv prevention by the courts and media coverage shifts perceptions and negotiations of hiv management in ways that may actually undermine effective hiv prevention by making disclosure feel more risky for hiv - positive people when it becomes an act subject to legal scrutiny .
as well it may create a generalized expectation that hiv - positive people will always disclose , and therefore condom use is unnecessary because non - disclosure comes to signify hiv - negative status .
obscured by criminalization trends is the fact that protected sex , especially in a situation where treatment has succeeded in attaining an undetectable viral load in the hiv - positive partner , continues to be a much more reliable method of avoiding hiv ( as well as several other sexually transmitted infections ) than disclosure .
the elevation of disclosure to a primary strategy for hiv prevention , then , exerts increasing pressure on a double bind that can not be relied on to result in decreased hiv risk and may divert attention from or undermine safe sex practice .
 responses to the largest surveys of hiv - positive people in ontario show that most either disclose to or do not have partners who are hiv - negative or of unknown status . 
 non - disclosure strategies and assumptions are reported by relatively small sets of people with some variation according to employment status , sexual orientation , gender , ethnicity , and having had a casual partner . 
 interviews with 122 people living with hiv show that disclosure is an undertaking fraught with emotional pitfalls complicated by personal histories of having misread cues or having felt deceived leading up to their own sero - conversion , then having to negotiate a stigmatized status with new people . in gay communities , 
 constructions of the self as individual actors in a marketplace of risk co - exist with the sexual etiquette developed throughout the aids era of care of the self and other through safer sex . among heterosexual populations , notions of responsibility 
 show some divergence by gender . 
 the findings of this study suggest that the heightened pressure of criminal sanction on decision - making about disclosure in personal interactions does not address difficulties in hiv transmission and is unlikely to result in enhanced prevention . 
Methods
Demographic characteristics
Expectations regarding disclosure by partners
The multiple rationalities of disclosure
Poz on poz sex
Constructions of responsibility
Collective or interpersonal responsibility
Conclusion