Chance and risk

When we shift our focus from general definitions of risk to specific risks, this particular group of men starts to blend with other discrete risk groupings within the sample. Using Douglas scheme (grid-group) to organise the data (1973), we observe the operation of a strong grid among the interviewed men as far as the domination of the definition of risk is concerned. The construction of risk as a potential threat to physical, emotional, mental and financial well-being remains unchallenged when we move from the mentioned group of so-called non risktakers to other groups within the sample. However, the operation of a strong grid is not followed by a strong belief among the other groups of interviewed men in their ability to control their risk environments. For the majority of the interviewed men, risk lurks everywhere. Whether this a threat of physical violence or crime, unemployment, emotional breakdown due to a loss of a loved person through death or separation, impulsive and compulsive consumerism (regardless of the object that is being consumed), the interviewed men provided an exhaustive list of locations of risk over which they felt they had very little control. Among the interviewed men, there is an overwhelming sense that to live in a post industrial city means to live in an environment of chance and risk. These data validate earlier empirical findings of the National Centre in HIV Social Research in relation to gay mens constructs of the role of chance and luck in the process of HIV seroconversion (Rosengarten et al. 200). In other words, the majority of the interviewed men felt that one does not need to concern oneself with risk management too much, since whether one becomes a victim of a certain threat or not is all a matter of chance. When asked about how he read various risk warnings in the media, Tim, a 46 years old professional gay man from Sydney, responded in the following way:

EVERY DAY WERE FACED WITH MESSAGES ABOUT RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH SMOKING, DRINKING; TAKING DRUGS, EATING JUNK FOOD, DRINK DRIVING, NOT PLANNING WISELY FOR YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE, ETC. HOW DO YOU SEE THESE MESSAGES? Yeah, and knowing about risks and understanding it. Yeah, um I often um I mean I think one of the things we actually say from it and Ive long been aware of it is that people are - people are socialised into understanding that when you are given warnings and cautions and advised of risk then it is a worst case scenario. Um and no one actually believes the truth of this is going to be like an almost universal experience. People say bullshit to that. We know that with cigarette smoking probably up to 10-20 per cent of everybody who is um an adult lifetime smoker will not die of smoking related poisons. I mean 20-30 per cent of people perhaps up to like 20 certainly per cent of people constantly exposed to the HIV virus will not developed antibodies or will not seroconvert.