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This paper describes some of the more prohibitive aspects of HIV prevention among gay men in England. It argues that much current HIV prevention work assumes that prohibition is the most appropriate means of governing gay male sexual practice--most particularly in relation to the treatment of unprotected anal sex or bare-backing . The prohibitive approach constructs an opposition between the good gay citizen who privileges health maximisation and the evil irresponsible bare-backer who embodies the transgressive pleasure of unprotected sex. It becomes impossible to represent bare-backing outside of this cycle of prohibition and transgression without being re-inscribed within it through the sickness of low self-esteem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]