This paper reports on the results of qualitative studies examining the personal experiences of sex and sexual negotiation for British gay men who are diagnosed HIV positive and those who know or presume themselves to be uninfected. These are contrasted with the results of a study of representations of HIV and AIDS within an international review of community health promotion literature aimed at gay men. The paper highlights the disparity between specific community responses to the epidemic as engendered in the cultural production of health promotion materials and the individual experience of HIV, suggesting a paradigm for a community response to the epidemic which reflects the personal experience of gay men both infected and uninfected.