The ‘Informed Matter’ of Gay and Bisexual Men's (Potential) Use of HIV Antiretrovirals to Prevent COVID-19

In 2020, there were reports that HIV antiretrovirals, specifically the combination tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine (TDF/FTC), had therapeutic potential for COVID-19. In the context of scant empirical evidence at the time to confirm such an effect, we sought to understand the ways that gay and bisexual men (GBM) made sense of—and embodied—information about HIV antiretrovirals in relation to preventing and/or treating COVID-19. We conducted interviews with 26 participants between August and November 2020. To understand how information about, and experiences of, consuming antiretrovirals might form part of assemblages of COVID-19 prevention for GBM in Australia, we draw on Marsha Rosengarten's (2009) concept of ‘informed matter’. ‘Informed matter’ conceptualises the subject (of disease prevention) as involved in a co-constitutive relationship with the contextual dynamics in which it is situated. Participants drew on their understandings of virology, immunology and pharmaceuticals and experiences with antiretrovirals to form perceptions about their function as therapeutics for COVID-19. By looking beyond biotechnologies as causal of behaviour, we can avoid unintended moralism in contexts of potentially different use. We argue that using ‘informed matter’ is useful to interrogate, often neglected, complex changes in sex-associated biotechnologies in complicated informational contexts, such as a global pandemic.<p></p>