Haakon Aars (born 1941)
2025-07-29
Aars has particularly extensive experience in clinical work related to male sexuality and diversity. He is also known as a textbook author, lecturer, article writer, and educator. Over several decades, he has played a prominent role in public education as a physician and therapist—appearing on television, in magazines, newspapers, and online.
In our life story interview with Aars, he speaks about his early years as a young physician and the moment he discovered his own sexuality. He reflects on the process of coming out and living openly, and the challenges he faced both personally and professionally when HIV and AIDS emerged in the early 1980s.
A short excerpt from the interview is available in the video window below, where Aars recounts his first encounter with the deadly HIV virus—when a close friend of his became infected.
The full interview with Aars is available at Skeivt arkiv, part of the Special Collections at the University Library in Bergen.
We met Haakon Aars in Oslo, in May 2017.
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