Homosexuality and biomarkers of aging in the production of gerontological knowledge by American, British, and Brazilian authors

Homossexualidade e biomarcadores de envelhecimento na produção de conhecimento gerontológico por autores estadunidenses, britânicos e brasileiros

Homosexualidad y biomarcadores de envejecimiento en la producción de conocimiento gerontológico, según autores estadounidenses, británicos y brasileños

Abstract:

This study reviewed articles originated in Brazil, in the United Kingdom, and in the United States from 1970 to September 2018 in the Web of Science database. Text mining techniques were used, and a predominantly qualitative analysis was performed, including correspondence analysis and sentiment analysis using the R Software (version 3.5.0) tools. Results show a repathologization of homosexuality in the gerontological knowledge production. This includes studies performed in 51 areas of knowledge in the three countries. That was followed by the depsychiatrization of homosexuality during the peak of deaths caused by AIDS, and its consequent recognition as an epidemiological threat. The article concludes reviewing the collected biomarkers, such as “sexual”, “risk”, “MSM”, and “HIV/AIDS”, which prove the progressive impact of sexual panic in gerontology studies and also associates AIDS with masculine homosexuality.

Keywords:
Homosexuality; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; Gerontology; Aging; Biomarkers