A Critical Appraisal of the Ideology of Monogamy’s Influence on HIV Epidemiology

The linked ideas that all members of society should only engage in monogamous relationships and that these should all be based on romantic love are decided outliers from a historical perspective. Despite this, there is a widespread contemporary belief that monogamy based on love is the most ethical and natural form of partnering for humans—mononormativism. It has long been accepted that our values influence how we frame and interpret scientific questions. In the article we ask, using the example of mononormativism, how does an individual’s sexual ethics influence how they pursue HIV epidemiology? Using a Social Intuitionalist theoretical framework, we argue that a belief in monogamy-as-normative has contributed to certain researchers dismissing the evidence that the generalized HIV epidemics in parts of Africa are due to higher rates of non-monogamy.