{"id":18940,"date":"2014-07-22T19:23:02","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T23:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/?p=18940"},"modified":"2014-07-22T19:23:02","modified_gmt":"2014-07-22T23:23:02","slug":"the-other-little-blue-pill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/2014\/07\/22\/the-other-little-blue-pill\/","title":{"rendered":"The Other Little Blue Pill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pharmaceutical drugs do an array of things to the body. They can affect mood, energy, blood flow, experiences of pain, and capacities for pleasure.\u00a0 Their increasing prevalence in the marketplace and home medicine cabinets suggests an addition to the old adage that \u2018we are what we eat.\u2019 Today, we are also what we take.<\/p>\n

But embedded within cultural realities,\u00a0\u00a0pharmaceuticals do not simply do <\/em>things to the body. Rather, they are the conduits through which the body becomes connected\u00a0with and constituted through economies of both money and moral value. Pharmaceutical drugs are at once tools of medicinal healing and commodities of social and financial\u00a0exchange. In understanding the implications of any particular pharmaceutical drug, then, it is pertinent to ask not only what it does, but what the pharmaceutical company is\u00a0selling, to whom, and with what kind of trajectory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Truvada<\/a> is a pharmaceutical drug associated with HIV. Manufactured by Gilead<\/a>, the pill has traditionally treated those already infected. Recently, however, it has also been used as an HIV preventative. Gilead claims that when taken daily, Truvada is over 90% effective in preventing HIV contraction. The preventative use for Truvada falls under the category of\u00a0 pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. The use of Truvada as PrEP\u00a0was highlighted this month \u00a0by the World Health Organization (WHO), which now recommends PrEP<\/a> for all men who have sex with men, citing a projected 20-25% decrease in HIV infections among this population over 10 years[i]. WHO\u2019s statement, released on July 11th<\/sup>, came in anticipation of the 20th<\/sup> International Aids Conference<\/a> in Melbourne, Australia, currently going on this week.<\/p>\n

Addressing the questions above about goods sold and apparent trajectory, the most obvious answer is that Gilead is selling health and wellness. They are selling it to HIV vulnerable populations. And they are selling it at widely varying financial costs, with a trajectory of reduced incidents of AIDS. In the U.S., the drug costs between $8,000-$14,000<\/a> per year\u2014though those with insurance may be eligible for coverage\u2014while in South Africa and India, the yearly bill for the drug is around $100. <\/a>\u00a0Of course, the costs also come in the form of side effects, such as liver damage, lethargy, nausea, and decreased bone density. Likely an easy trade for HIV positive patients, though maybe less so for those who have not contracted the virus.<\/p>\n

But for the price, both financial and physical, I argue that Gilead offers\u00a0more than just health and wellness; more than a future trajectory with fewer cases of AIDS internationally. \u00a0In addition,\u00a0Gilead offers\u00a0a\u00a0technology of intimacy and a re-positioning\u00a0of trust.<\/p>\n

The WHO focuses exclusively on AIDS prevention, but doctors, citizens, activists, and practitioners address the social side of medicine when they talk about PrEP. \u00a0In particular, proponents construct discourses of control over sexuality and new kinds of connection, purportedly stifled or repressed when mediated through the barrier of a condom. For instance, in an interview with NPR<\/a>, a New York man who uses Truvada as PrEP explains:<\/p>\n

I\u00a0didn’t fully understand what it meant to live in fear every time I had sex\u2026And it wasn’t until about a year after I was using PREP that I had the experience of pleasurable intimacy, and realized: I’m not afraid anymore.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In ironic tension with this increased physical intimacy, is the diminished need to rely on a partner\u2019s honesty and engage in potentially awkward and difficult conversations about sexual history[ii]. In a neoliberal move of control over the self\u2014rather than stewardship for one another\u2014the pill allows sexual subjects to protect themselves responsibly. This of course repositions responsibility, such that the contraction of AIDS can legitimately elicit the accusatory question: were you taking your pill regularly? This is inextricably entwined with morality. A protected body is a responsible body. A responsible self is a moral self[iii].<\/p>\n

Interestingly, this personal responsibility is tied in with, indeed depends upon<\/em>, a technological object. The moral self, here, is literally consumed.<\/p>\n

Perhaps unsatisfyingly, I close with no clear argument for or against the production, sale, distribution, or use of PrEP. Instead, I point to the imbrication of bodies, technologies, and market economies. Truvada is not just about safety, it is about self. It is about morality. And it is, as always, about monetary exchange.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jenny Davis is a weekly contributor for Cyborgology. Follow Jenny on Twitter @Jenny_L_Davis<\/a><\/p>\n

[i] It is unclear why the recommendation is for men who have sex with men specifically, and not extended to the full list of \u201cvulnerable populations\u201d as identified by the WHO, which include people in prison, people who inject drugs, sex workers and transgender people<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[ii] Of course this drug only prevents AIDS. \u00a0Condoms and communication are still essential in preventing other sexually transmitted diseases.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[iii] This discourse sounds quite familiar in its mimicry of women and birth control pills.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pharmaceutical drugs do an array of things to the body. They can affect mood, energy, blood flow, experiences of pain, and capacities for pleasure.\u00a0 Their increasing prevalence in the marketplace and home medicine cabinets suggests an addition to the old adage that \u2018we are what we eat.\u2019 Today, we are also what we take. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1753,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9967],"tags":[4014,55,1933,120],"class_list":["post-18940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","tag-embodiment","tag-gender","tag-hivaids","tag-sex"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1753"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18940"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18950,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18940\/revisions\/18950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}