CHAPTER SIXTEEN “HIV MY DARLING”: ISRAELI GAY MEN RECLAIMING HETERONORMATIVE CULTURAL SCRIP TS IN THE SHADOW OF AIDS SHIRLY B AR-L EV AND E FRAT TILLINGER National Politics and the Emotional Gay Body In July 2008, Haaretz 1 published an electronic article by Ofri Ilani, entitled “Israeli Gays Shun Condoms Despite Worrying Rise in AIDS.” 2 This article appeared as part of a series covering the rise in diagnosed AIDS/HIV cases amid severe reductions in governmental support of the Israeli AIDS Task Force (IATF) and related public health campaigns. According to Dr. Gideon Hirsch, CEO of the IATF, governmental support of the task force has shrunk by 90 percent. 3 Ilani’s article opens with the startling confession of Roi, a 26 -year-old man from an ultra-religious Jewish background, who began having sex with men in the late 1990s at the age of sixteen. After he became “accustomed” to the sense of sinfulness this gave him, Roi claims to have “found a new sense of sin in sexual relations without a condom.” 4 He offered the following explanation for his actions: “every type of homosexual sex is forbidden by the Torah, and there is something arousing about the very transgression against the prohibition. So apparently I’m looking for another prohibition, which will be even stronger.” 5 The article then turns to psychologist Gidi Rubinstein, 6 who interprets this type of behavior as evidence of sexual deviancy, suggesting that, “this playing with sex and death arouses them sexually” and positing that this behavior is common “mainly among young men who cannot help but look for excitement.” 7 This psychological profile portrays gay men who have sex without condoms as having an impaired sense of self that leads them to obsessively engage in high-risk behavior. They are accordingly perceived as incapable of intimacy and lacking in emotional health. 8 To counter this psychological profile of sexual deviancy, the Haaretz journalist Ilani introduces Yoav, an Israeli gay man, who claims that gay Israeli men refrain from using condoms because it interferes with intimacy and romance: “the entire issue of the condom makes sex much less attractive,” suggests Yoav, “something a little bit technical.” 9 His insights are affirmed by Hirsch, who states that, “casual sex without a condom [heterosex ual and homosexual] is a global trend that is spreading in the Western world.” 10 Hirsch condemns this behavior, but suggests that it stems from an understandable quest for intimacy, naïve apathy, and a “normal,” albeit misguided, confidence in the resilience of youthful bodies. 11 The article triggered 32 comments on the newspaper’s website, the majority of which were written by Jewish Americans. Paula of Florida entitled her talkback “Jewish Gays” and wrote: “Amazing . . .and here I thought that Jewish Gays as well as Jewish straights were smarter than this. Just goes to show ya [sic].” A commentator nicknamed “Jewish State” asked: “Why are we always getting hit with all this AIDS info—we are supposed to feel empathy etc. BUT these young guys are not using condoms …it is like drunk driving.” Another commentator from Britain wrote: “Thank God for the Gays. Hopefully they will weaken Israeli