Product details
Synopsis
☆ The first firsthand life stories of partners, family, and friends of people living with HIV, dispelling unnecessary fear and stigma surrounding the disease.
☆ Medical advancements have controlled the disease, but people's fears are still controlled by the stigma associated with it. This book uses the real-life experiences of those close to people living with HIV to help everyone understand that living with them does not require fear.
☆ "AIDS changed our relationship, but in a better way; we trust each other more."
The days we walked through stigma together are what our love looks like.
HIV is now considered a chronic disease by the medical community, and it can be controlled with regular medication. Scientific progress has treated the illness, but it cannot cure the fear and discrimination in people's hearts. Many people's fear comes from ignorance about the disease, not knowing whether they can interact with those infected. This is no longer a medical issue but a psychological and cultural one that cannot be solved by advanced medicine. What is needed are more stories willing to be told and more visible figures to have a chance to reverse the unknown and fear in people's hearts.
With the progress of the HIV movement, there are now more opportunities to hear from people living with HIV themselves. However, what are the difficulties and needs of those in HIV-related relationships who live with people living with HIV? Society has so far rarely recognized this area, failing to listen to their voices and let them tell their own stories. The stories in this book focus on "HIV-related individuals," including partners/spouses, parents and siblings, close friends, frontline caregivers, and service workers of people living with HIV. It starts from their perspectives and uses their viewpoints to tell the stories of their lives that have been affected, stirred, and settled by HIV.
"AIDS disrupted our understanding of intimate relationships, and intimate relationships also rebuilt our understanding of AIDS."
This book contains sixteen stories from interviews with sixteen HIV-related individuals, spanning seven years. The protagonists of these stories are mostly partners (or spouses) of people living with HIV, as well as their mothers, siblings, best friends, and social workers from organizations that care for people living with HIV. The stories recount how the protagonists gradually transformed after being informed by their HIV-positive family or friends, moving from facing fear, worry, and anxiety to no longer being afraid, learning to live with the disease, or redefining the meaning of AIDS, and rethinking the deeper implications of relationships affected (or increasingly unaffected) by HIV. Some interviewees did not feel fear upon being informed because they were already familiar with and understood AIDS. The transformations or attitudes towards AIDS shared by each interviewee are extremely valuable. Recording these key turning points or factors that can break free from the pressure of stigma is a precious aid for us to reverse the stigma of AIDS in the future.
"The stories of family and friends of people living with HIV allow us to see the multifaceted emotions and strengths people exhibit when facing AIDS, and also confirm that AIDS does not have to lead to the breakdown of relationships but rather to their strengthening and continuation."
Celebrity Recommendations
百靈果凱莉 (Podcaster)
林宜慧 (Secretary-General of the Taiwan AIDS Rights Advocacy Association)
柯乃熒 (Vice Dean of International Affairs, Distinguished Professor, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University)
洪健清 (Vice Superintendent of National Taiwan University Hospital Yunlin Branch, President of the Taiwan Society of AIDS)
徐森杰 (Secretary-General of the Taiwan Lourdes Association)
莊苹 (Standing Director of the Taiwan AIDS Nurses Association, Nurse at the Kunming Prevention and Treatment Center, Taipei City Hospital)
郭蘅祈 (Musician, Initiator of the Love is Routine Music Festival)
陳威圻 (Secretary-General/Founder of HIVStory)
楊婕妤 (Founder of Taiwan Home of Love)
詹傑 (Film, Television, and Stage Play Screenwriter)
劉致昕 (Deputy Editor-in-Chief of The Reporter)
蔡春美 (Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Fu Jen Catholic University)
羅一鈞 (Deputy Director-General of the Centers for Disease Control, Ministry of Health and Welfare)
羅毓嘉 (Poet, Writer)
顧文瑋 (Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Renai Branch, Taipei City Hospital)
About the Authors
Author Biography
Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association
Founded in June 1998, the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association focuses on the LGBTQ+ rights movement in Taiwan and is dedicated to improving the situation of LGBTQ+ individuals. It is the oldest national LGBTQ+ organization in Taiwan.
Current working groups include: Helpline, Family, Education, AIDS, Older LGBTQ+, Sexual Rights (Youth), Intimate Relationships, Transgender, and the Southern Office. Twelve full-time staff members lead over four hundred volunteers in promoting various LGBTQ+ advocacy, education, and community service work. (https://hotline.org.tw/)
Interview and Writing: AIDS Group, Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association
HIV and health issues within the LGBTQ+ community have always been important concerns for the Hotline. The Hotline established the AIDS Group in 2003 to provide HIV and sexual health services and work. It offers knowledge and resources to the LGBTQ+ community through counseling hotlines, lectures, publications, anonymous testing, and website management. It also conducts AIDS awareness lectures for teachers and students at all levels of schools and talks about understanding LGBTQ+ individuals for medical and public health professionals.
The Hotline also raises the opinions of the LGBTQ+ community and engages in policy monitoring and social action regarding discriminatory statements and public policies related to AIDS. Adhering to the principles of "de-stigmatizing AIDS," "emphasizing both safe sex and sexual pleasure," and "valuing the human rights of people living with HIV," the AIDS Group hopes that both the LGBTQ+ community and the general public can coexist peacefully with AIDS based on accurate understanding.
The "Interview Project with Partners, Family, and Friends of People Living with HIV" was initiated by 江蘊生 (阿生) and led by the Hotline's AIDS Group, with the joint participation of 杜思誠 (小杜), 阿上, 索索, 喀飛, 曾柏嘉 (阿嘎), 傅凱群 (阿樂), 呂昌榮, 睡眠, 沙沙, 小龍, Franki, 小high, 周周, 阿波, 阿轉, 阿克, and AIDS activist 黃義筌 (阿宅).
[Foreword to the Interview Project with Partners, Family, and Friends of People Living with HIV] Understanding the Impact of AIDS from More Perspectives [江蘊生]
[Work Report] AIDS is Part of the Hotline, Not Just an Individual Problem for People Living with HIV [杜思誠]
[Editor's Note] We Are All People in HIV-Related Relationships [喀飛]
[Recommendation from a Long-Term Care Medical Professional for People Living with HIV] The Beginnings and Endings of These Years [莊苹]
01 A Qing's Story as the Bereaved Partner of Someone Living with HIV: Love at First Sight – An Intergenerational Romance from Blossom to Fall [阿上]
02 A Shu's Story as the Partner of Someone Living with HIV: Heartbroken by His Guilt and Inferiority [索索]
03 A Kui's Story as the Partner of Someone Living with HIV: Not Wanting to Show Vulnerability – Confession and Disclosure via Text Message [喀飛]
04 Da Da's Story as the Former Boyfriend of Someone Living with HIV in a Throuple: If I Were Also Infected, Would You Treat Me Better? [黃義筌 (阿宅), 阿上]
05 A Zhe's Story as the Partner of Someone Living with HIV: Sweet Everyday Life After Twists and Turns [江蘊生]
06 A Guo's Story as the Former Boyfriend of Someone Living with HIV: The Same Sky, Different Landscapes [阿上]
07 Fran's Story as the Partner of Someone Living with HIV: How Do I Know My Next Boyfriend Won't Be Infected? [傅凱群]
08 Leo's Story as the Partner of Someone Living with HIV: Different Partners Are Not How We Define Our Relationship [阿上]
09 Mother Lin's Story as the Mother of Someone Living with HIV: The Closer, the More Distant – The Fine Line Between Care and Pressure [睡眠]
10 Xiao Yi's Story as the Younger Brother of Someone Living with HIV: Facing Life with a Smile, Tenderness Hiding Yearning [索索]
11 Cai Cai's Story as the Younger Sister of Someone Living with HIV: Broke Up with Boyfriend Because He Didn't Accept LGBTQ+ People [沙沙]
12 Terrence's Story as the Former Boyfriend of Someone Living with HIV: You Knew You Had It, Why Did You Ask Me to Take It Off? [呂昌榮]
13 Xiao Hua's Story as the Best Friend of Someone Living with HIV: Infection Is Not Your Fault [阿嘎]
14 A Liang's Story as a Social Worker at an Organization Caring for People Living with HIV: Didn't Expect to Encounter So Many Difficulties Serving People Living with HIV [喀飛]
15 A Guang's Story as the Former Boyfriend of Someone Living with HIV: AIDS Is Not a Legend, Nor Is It a Ghost [阿嘎]
16 Simon's Story as the Spouse of Someone Living with HIV: People Are the Protagonists of Life, Not Viruses [阿嘎]
[Appendix] AIDS-Related Organizations and Services