By Emily Miller and Justin Sprague
Abstract
This work examines how AIDS-related posters and public service announcements created from the late 1980s to early 1990s perpetuated stigma and discrimination within the United States. A qualitative thematic analysis of the University of Rochester’s AIDS Poster Collection was used, in conjunction with a quantitative metadata analysis of the collection.
Introduction
Within media campaigns, there are seldom more powerful mediums than posters and advertisements, with their power to captivate even non-literate audiences (Helfland, 2000). Despite this, the University of Rochester (herein referred to as “U of R”) AIDS Education collection—one of the largest poster collections in the world for AIDS related media—has escaped major analysis by researchers, yet offers a potent glimpse into the varied attempts to reach multiple communities utilizing a range of rhetorical methods. This paper seeks to examine AIDS-related posters and PSA’s collection through historical, culturally-contexted, and analytic lenses, and shed light on HIV/AIDS culture otherwise unexamined in research.
The posters reviewed for this paper were gathered from the U of R AIDS Education Collection, which is one of the largest in the world with over 8,000 posters, and uniquely designed in that it was donated by one individual, Dr. Edward Atwater, starting in 2007. Dr. Atwater began collecting posters in 1990 to document the social history of AIDS from various sources, including nonprofits, governments, and individuals.[1] In this way, the U of R AIDS Collection is incredibly unique, as it traverses countries, cultures, and various decades through a wide array of posters with no specific focal point. For this reason, the collection was chosen for examination, as it provides the largest breadth of “jumping off points” for various series or specific cultural points, even when data such as the year or location is missing. For example, if a relevant non-dated poster is found in the U of R collection, one can conduct a search to see if it was placed in a collection elsewhere and spark further analysis and introspection. Likewise, coalescing our analysis around specific media campaigns allows us to narrow the field of potential years for undated posters, providing a window for critical analysis.
Through the following case studies of this collection, we aim to provide a small sample of the interaction between the epidemic, the media, as well as cultural and political context. In addition to outlining statistical findings, we focused on two specific campaigns in this article, each with unique approaches to awareness. The first, America Responds to AIDS, was an early large-scale attempt by the U.S. government to spread awareness while utilizing a range of stylistic and rhetorical choices, from sex-positive safe-sex practices to a focus on children and the preservation of the next generation. The second, Country AIDS Awareness, is unique in its focus on artistic expression and country music celebrities in the wake of political bans on the depictions of homosexual activity. Each of these campaigns represents a dramatically different approach to awareness, all while being deeply shaped by the existing policies at the given moment. Lastly, we provide a general discussion of the collection more broadly, identifying key themes for historical contextualization as well as future research and analysis.
Queer history in the U.S., much less globally, is not fixed into neatly archived histories; thus, it is incumbent upon researchers and people within the community to document, contextualize, and recover parts of these histories that may have been forgotten, abandoned, in poor condition, or twisted for socio-political reasons. This is intended as a jumping-off point for further indexing and archival analysis as we enrich the contextual landscape for how the epidemic was understood both as a public health crisis and how information was mobilized across communities in tandem with medical research. Similarly, we aim to articulate how these campaigns were inevitably raced, gendered, classed, and politicized in an era of medical discovery and a deeply conservative political backdrop. These posters are a product of their time and the knowledge available about the disease, making the incredible diversity in rhetorical approach to each awareness campaign a unique and rich point for analysis.
Literature Review
There is a notable gap in the literature on the subject of AIDS-related PSAs/advertisements specifically. One of the most notable findings in the literature reviewed was the discussion of “anchors” by Schoeneman et al. (2010), or the recurring themes within AIDS related media and their role in the objectification of the disease. “Death,” “evil,” and “cancer” were all found to be recurring in the majority of media, as well as portrayals of adult, white males (interestingly, heterosexual and homosexual portrayals were roughly equal). Many media pieces also included a “scare” factor by using statistics, mentions of death or disease, or relevant imagery. All of these facets acted in tandem to objectify the idea of AIDS, while simultaneously stigmatizing the main characters’ actions—despite many campaign attempts to do the opposite.[2]. For example, in a Country AIDS Campaign poster, the pictured demographic is almost always a stereotypical Southern person who uses frequent slang such as “ain’t” or “city folk,” which in turn objectifies the very demographic the advertisements seek to target (fig. 5).
Additionally, much of the media used during the AIDS crisis was not only informative but a method of advertising, which painted companies as “considerate” and “aware” while simultaneously enticing audiences to purchase their products. The most prominent example is Benneton’s Shock of Reality campaign, which contained graphic images of families with AIDS victims in hospital rooms, while simultaneously including captions about relevant clothing items on sale.[3]. This lens provides a foundation for a detailed analysis of the posters reviewed for this work, as many likely have alternative, capitalism-based backings.
The cultural context in which AIDS media was created is additionally crucial to be cognizant of, as conversations surrounding condoms and safe-sex practices, which are discussed publicly today, but were labeled as taboo or even illegal during the AIDS crisis. Until 1977, companies were prohibited from advertising or displaying contraceptives (Carey V. Population). Despite the law change, it was not until 1987 that the word “condom” was first used on TV, sparking immense controversy (Los Angeles Times, 1987). Needless to say, the stigma of HIV/AIDS is not only inherent to the disease itself, but also to other cultural factors surrounding it.
In consideration of the above facts, analysis of the posters used for this research must be carefully done, with cultural factors kept at the forefront of the content analysis process. Researchers suggest taking a multi-faceted approach to poster examination, performing steps such as analyzing surface-level meaning, narrative, intended meaning, ideological meaning, clarity, oppositional reading, and the “evidence of a social reality.”[4] For this research, ideological meaning is one of the most crucial, both due to general cultural standards (as previously aforementioned), and standards within the communities targeted in these ads. For example, leather/BDSM gear was heavily seen as taboo by Lesbian/Gay communities during the early portion of the HIV/AIDS crisis, as many believed it was impure and the likely root of the disease.[5]. To further compound the complexity of poster analysis for this work, several dimensions of stigma are unique to HIV/AIDS, including institutional, non-institutional, and structural discrimination. Any negative perception of the disease could implode within various public spheres, paving the way for stigmatized and discriminatory advertisements.[6]
The U.S. government also played a large role in the creation of the posters created during the HIV/AIDS crisis, with federal funding pumping millions of dollars into various nonprofits and initiatives to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS.[7] To compound the government’s influence in the epidemic, the Helms Amendments, passed in 1987, banned all posters created with federal funding from promoting homosexual activity, effectively stifling many organizations work.[8] Although the ruling was overturned in 1992, its effects were long-lasting, and mitigated the potential positive impact of media created during the peak of the HIV/AIDS crisis.[9]
From this review, it’s clear that the history and context surrounding AIDS-related media is vast and complex, spanning multiple decades and audiences. It is crucial to consider the capitalistic, cultural, social, and implied meanings of each piece of media analyzed in order to ensure as comprehensive an analysis as possible. Failing to take care and complete consideration of each piece is not only improper, but would mean losing out on valuable information about the culture, citizens, and time in which the AIDS crisis found itself.
Representing Race: Identity and Representation in Context
While the bulk of HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns in the collection typically focused on sex and sexuality, whether that be safe sex or penetrative abstinence, several different campaigns attempted to cast wider nets to reach varying groups of people beyond white queer audiences, with varying tonal shifts. Generally, while awareness campaigns that prominently feature non-white figures tended to lean toward a colorblind approach to the crisis, there were several concerted attempts to speak directly to communities outside of the white queer standard (fig. 1, 7, 8, 11). The campaigns designed to reach heterosexual Black audiences specifically varied, with a particular emphasis on Black motherhood.
Both colorblind inclusions of people of color as well as approaches tailored specifically for the Black community were informed, both subtly and overtly, by the political and social representations that dominated the era.[10] The 1980’s saw a shifting political landscape that pathologized Black women, and in particular Black woman-led households to advance political agendas aimed at destroying public safety nets like welfare while limiting the political gains of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.[11] Whereas the Moynihan Report and the political climate of the 1960s aimed to position Black women as welfare mothers responsible for the systemic inequality the Black community experienced, the politically conservative resurgence of the 1980s saw this stereotype evolve into an abuser of social safety nets like welfare, repositioning Black women as both permanent (sole) heads of households, blaming them for the economic hardships the Black community faced, and as political fodder to pull back supports for such social safety nets.[12]. These attacks on public assistance, paired with rapid urban deindustrialization, deunionization, and the rise in mass incarceration due to Reagan’s racially biased war on drugs in the early 1980s, devastated urban Black economic centers and eliminated jobs, creating a perfect storm for identifying Black communities as responsible for their own suffering rather than the victims of economic abandonment and political platforming.[13] This political positioning produced and mainstreamed a range of stereotypes related to Black women specifically that were aimed at casting Black women as both problematic matriarchs and as sexually deviant adolescent mothers that would engage in risky sexual practices that exposed the community to HIV/AIDS.[14]
Coincidentally, these same perceptions had impacts on how HIV/AIDS was both publicly understood and how the crisis was managed more broadly. The concept of “deviance” dominated public discourse in the early years of the epidemic, whether that be in the form of pathologizing drug users, men who have sex with men, immigrants, or single-mother-led households. For instance, throughout the 1980s and into the 90s, Haitian immigrants became a prime target for racialized representation of the epidemic, positioned as the first “heterosexual risk” population, informing policy and public discourse concerning “who is at risk” for years, all without any political or policy-related participation or feedback from the Haitian community itself.[15] In many ways, it took the centering of celebrities like NBA player Magic Johnson and his HIV diagnosis to even begin to shift the narrative away from outright homophobia, xenophobia, and racial stereotypes.[16]
Thus, in conjunction with the economic collapse of urban Black communities and the emergence of suburban middle-class Black communities, mainstream mediated representations of HIV/AIDS within the Black community, particularly single Black mothers, were often subtly informed by these stereotypes, even if the messaging was seemingly apolitical or even positive. Whether that be the implication of drug use and nods to the crack/cocaine epidemic featuring a blurry but identifiably Black couple (fig. 7) or the implication of a Black single mother contending with the circumstances of HIV/AIDS alone (fig. 1, 8), subtle reflections of these politicized representations paired with subtle homophobia often dictated the ways in which the Black community and other people of color were represented in HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns.
Statistical Findings
To supplement this research, a CSV file containing all metadata on the U of R HIV/AIDS collection was pulled from the online database. This file contains all cataloged posters within the collection and relevant information such as series, date, location, and description of each poster. As this research only focused on the U.S., only posters identified to be from the United States were utilized (n = 2135).
A first analysis was done to view the frequency of posters throughout the HIV/AIDS crisis. Only posters with confirmed dates were used, with posters with recorded ranges or estimations for dates being excluded. It should be noted that this collection of posters, while large and generally comprehensive, was not formally created in origin for analysis. There are likely hundreds of posters missing from this sample, with further work needed to be done to ensure the years with spikes in poster creation are truly correlated with the U.S.’s culture and actions during the relevant time period.
Over 51% (n = 1109) of the posters recorded lacked dates, including 39 with estimations or ranges instead of exact years. A large spike is seen in 1989-1990, and in 1998, in terms of poster distribution/creation (fig. A, B). Further research is necessary to investigate why these spikes occurred, and if they are correlated to points in U.S. history and culture. It should be noted that one poster is recorded as being distributed in 1898, with that information presumed to be an user error in entry.
To supplement the statistical analysis done, a word frequency analysis was completed. The titles and descriptions of all posters, regardless of date, were used for this portion. Both titles and descriptions were used, due to some posters lacking one of these components; combining both aspects allowed for a thorough frequency analysis, which would have otherwise excluded hundreds of posters due to missing data. The word “man”/ “men” was featured over 200 times more (n = 626) than “woman” / “women”(n = 380), and “Caucasian”/ “white” (n = 218) was featured slightly less than POC representation (n = 272). Condoms were featured about ⅓ of the time (n = 412), whether through symbols and imagery or explicitly mentioned in the poster.
Figure A & B: A bar chart and pie chart containing information on date distribution for U.S posters. “0” denotes a poster that was not dated.
Case Study 1: America Responds to AIDS
The America Responds to AIDS (ARTA) collection was widely revered as the U.S. Government taking its first large-scale step to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. Over the course of six years, over a hundred posters, eighty TV PSA’s, and various other forms of media were created and distributed to all citizens across the United States.
In contrast to much of the previous media targeting HIV/AIDS, which shied away from outwardly mentioning sex or condom use, ARTA included several more explicitly coded posters, such as one titled “I Love Sex” complete with a picture of a woman’s nude stomach area and a wedding-ring adorned hand around her waist to further convey the poster’s meaning (fig. 9). A paragraph next to the image details how the subject loves sex, and how they choose to only be intimate with one person, their husband, to avoid HIV/AIDS. Other media forms in the campaign took similar sex-positive approaches as well, including a video advertisement depicting two teenagers passionately kissing as the focal point of the PSA, with mentions of condom use and general safe-sex practices.
Several other themes were reiterated throughout the ARTA collection, whether in mentions of preserving the next generation or generally focusing on children. Responsibility was also a large theme, with many pieces of media mentioning how it “only takes one time” to become infected with HIV/AIDS, or the power of deliberately choosing to use a condom. In addition, more diverse depictions of citizens were used to de-stigmatize HIV/AIDS and the idea that it was a disease that only affects gay men and drug users.
Despite the attempts to diversify the imagery of HIV/AIDS using ARTA, however, there are still several stereotypical images used within the collection that must be acknowledged. Several posters featured harmful racial stereotypes, including the association of crack and other drug use overlaid on images of Black families, or showcasing stereotypes related to Black, single-mother-led families (fig. 7). Many of the posters also heavily reinforced heteronormativity through their subjects and general messaging, with many depicting only heterosexual, often white, couples as the only ones engaging in sex. One such example is a 1990 poster which depicts a husband and wife with their two younger children, titled “Three good reasons for not being out with the boys.” On the right is a paragraph from the fatherly figure, who states the reason why he chooses fidelity to his wife is due to HIV/AIDS, and as a secondary reasoning, because he loves his family (fig. 10). While likely well-intentioned, the poster only serves to reinforce traditional heternormative standards to those who read it.
Overall, this collection, while generally attempting to broaden the audience of HIV/AIDS media, focused primarily on articulations of sex which reinforced heteronormative structures, alongside racialized imagery which simultaneously reinforced coded stereotypes in those same structures.
Case Study 2: Country AIDS Awareness
From a more general lens, the U.S. saw a shift in radical expression within media targeted towards HIV/AIDS, and a general narrowing in the audiences chosen for various campaigns. At the beginning of the epidemic, the majority of HIV/AIDS media was heavily general, and created to target the entirety of the U.S. populace, as comprehensive data on the demographics of the disease was not available. The banning of any media created using federal funds to depict homosexual activities in 1989, called the Helms Amendments, acted as an additional catalyst and ensured that the majority of HIV/AIDS media seen was heavily general and sanitized. However, with the overturning of the Helms Amendments in 1993, and public awareness of HIV/AIDS growing throughout the media, a new era of niche, radically expressive posters was created.
During this time period in 1993, and only six years after the debut of the ARTA collection, the “Country Music AIDS Awareness: Break The Silence” (referred to herein as “Country AIDS Awareness”) campaign was created to further mitigate the rise in HIV/AIDS cases. The campaign was uniquely designed by a team of advertisers in Nashville, then passed off to the Ad Council, a nonprofit strictly run without government funding, for distribution. Simultaneously, other agencies and organizations raced to create similar content, such as Cable Positive or M-A-C Cosmetics, creating a markedly PSA-filled time in the American fight against HIV/AIDS.[17]
The Country AIDS Awareness campaign was chosen for a case study as it acts as one of the most prominent first examples of radical expression within HIV/AIDS posters. Instead of focusing on all citizens, the collection narrowed in on only rural communities, which had been relatively ignored throughout the majority of the epidemic, and utilized both previously recurring themes of responsibility and preservation of the next generation in conjunction with a greater emphasis on slang and colloquial language. Nearly every video PSA used for the campaign included quick, montage-like shots overlaid with a country star who wore a stereotypically Southern outfit and country music as the soundtrack. All of the physical posters featured a quote from a country star, alongside a picture of them, and 1-2 paragraphs elaborating on the dangers of HIV/AIDS (fig. 5).
In addition, the Country AIDS Awareness collection uniquely brought in famous individuals as a method of credibility and drawing readers in. While other advertisements typically avoided using celebrities to take stances on the epidemic, the Country AIDS Awareness series instead embraced any exposure or credibility famous citizens could invoke, as most readers were from rural areas and historically wary of any mention of HIV/AIDS. A simple black and white design was also utilized to allow conservative audiences to further their understanding of the epidemic without risk of finding the media offensive or off-putting (fig. 5).
The content of the Country AIDS Awareness posters was also crafted to target rural audiences, including a focus on patriotism, tradition, and families. One poster features a mention of the Vietnam War as a method of encouraging understanding about HIV/AIDS, and four others focus on children and the preservation of the next generation. Conservatism is a clear theme as well, with only two posters explicitly mentioning condoms, both of which take a severe “safe-sex-or-die” approach, which conveys to audiences that the only alternative to safe sex is dying from HIV/AIDS.
Limitations of this Research
Much of the media surrounding the AIDS crisis has not been preserved or is difficult to reasonably access, particularly for the general public. For example, for the “Country AIDS Awareness” campaign, there were numerous TV Advertisements sent to stations such as MTV. However, almost none of these advertisements were properly preserved, and the majority that are digitized are only accessible through physical VHS tapes.
The videos that have been publicly digitized are linked, and the majority are from YouTube. It should be noted that there are likely a great number of “hidden” AIDS advertisements available publicly that are not categorized properly, as many of the keywords used for titles of the advertisements found were inconsistent. For example, searching “Break the Silence AIDS Campaign” on YouTube yielded no results. However, searching “AIDS PSA country” and “AIDS country folk singer” found numerous preserved advertisements. Due to time, archival, and technological limitations, relevant pieces of hidden media online per poster or series were difficult to find and inconsistent at best, and there are likely numerous other advertisements that were not located due to inconsistent titles or keywords.
Discussion
Throughout the content analysis of the posters used for this study, several of the recurring themes found were unsurprising, including using posters as a method of fame, use of colloquial language/slang, and condom imagery as a method of promoting safe sex. However, several other unexpected motifs, such as targeting advertisements to children and a rise in radical expression, appeared and seem to be correlated with marked points in U.S. culture and history.
One such example of how HIV/AIDS related posters shifted and influenced America lies in abstinence education and the way in which sex was presented to adolescents. Starting in 1981, the American Family Life Act, also called the “chastity act,” provided federal funding to thousands of programs across the U.S. to prevent and reduce the consequences of teenage sex, and by extension, prevent sex before marriage.[18] However, with the HIV/AIDS crisis looming, and pressure mounting from the public to employ comprehensive sex education in schools, American culture began to shift from abstinence-onlyto something strikingly close to sex-positive in the late 1980s. The posters reviewed during this time period reinforced these conclusions, from America Responds to AIDS—a federally-funded collection creating over 80 TV PSA’s, 50 print PSAs, brochures, radio-ads, and more from 1989-1993 with most focused on adolescents—to grassroots organizations publishing heart-wrenching ads about saving children from HIV/AIDS (fig 1). Condom use and imagery in general became more apparent in lieu of subtle messages about safe sex, and target demographics morphed from gay men to all audiences. America was, put simply, waking up to HIV/AIDS, and showcasing its newfound awareness through all forms of media.
Simultaneously, throughout the late 1980s-early 1990s, a mass growth in radical expression is observed. We define radical expression as a mass-upheaval of creative expression in posters targeted towards HIV/AIDS, whether through choice of color, content, or general explicit nature. Posters were no longer conservative and targeted to children or subtle in messaging; they were sexual, loud, and commanding passersby’s attention. A select few examples include a poster from the 1993 Protect Yourself: End the Epidemic series from Boston, MA (fig. 2), which depicts a man receiving graphic oral sex and ejaculating, or a 1989-1991 poster from Project Lifeguard by San Diego’s AIDS Foundation depicting a series of nine men in various sexual positions (fig. 3). Interestingly, the “conservative and subtle” genre of posters was still present at this time, but lesser-so, providing a stark juxtaposition with the American publics’ perception of HIV/AIDS.
There are several historical catalysts for this rise in radical expression, but most notably the passing of the Helms amendments in 1987, which banned federal funds from being used for any organizations promoting homosexual activities. All federally-funded media created for HIV/AIDS had to be passed through a committee for approval, and the vast majority of posters during this time were a part of the federally funded America Responds to AIDS Collection. When the ruling was overturned in 1991, posters created by grassroots organizations and nonprofits exploded, and with them came a newfound desire to radically express HIV/AIDS awareness and advocacy. Even federally funded collections swayed towards more explicit topics, including the 1997 AIDS Action Committee Responsibility series, which uses creative typography to communicate safe sex practices (fig. 4).
From an overall viewpoint, there were several themes apparent throughout all eras of HIV/AIDS media, including posters as a method of fame or use of colloquial language/slang. Several posters use terminology such as “city folk,” “ain’t,” “white man,” or more explicit vernacular like “cum.” Other posters include famous figures such as Robin Williams (as depicted in Socks, 1988, a TV PSA created by America Responds to AIDS,[19] or country singers in the 1993 Country AIDS Awareness campaign targeted towards rural communities (fig. 5). To compound these messages further, many posters had an underlying note of death or responsibility and choice, including one poster showcasing a condom and mentioning “slipping into something more responsible”(fig. 6), or other posters describing the purposeful choice to have safe sex (fig 2, 4, 6).
Genre makes a large appearance in the posters analyzed, with a consistent framework established across the majority of the content analyzed. Regardless of the media type, each poster contains a “hook” or shock factor, imagery, and some form of typography to convey a message. In more conservative posters (ones that do not contain explicit or suggestive imagery/visuals), a common theme was the depiction of a person and reinforcing personal responsibility within the mitigation of the HIV/AIDS crisis. For example, the Country AIDS Awareness campaign consistently depicts a country music star in a small frame alongside a message regarding personal choice in sexual matters, or the AIDS Factline series, which typically uses the image of a family and messaging about responsibility to encourage safe-sex practices (fig 1).
Another theme observed is a lack of mentioning “Queer,” “Gay,” or “Homosexual” throughout the posters used, with the majority of media targeted towards gay men using sexual imagery instead of text to communicate their target audiences. The majority of posters depicted graphic sexual positions or acts to communicate their targeting towards gay men (fig 2), or avoided the topic of homosexuality entirely, creating a complex polarity between conservative, family-friendly advertisements and sexually-charged imagery.
In all, the posters and PSAs reviewed for this paper showcase a distinct growth in radical expression and tension between conservatism and sexual topics. Laws such as the Helms Amendments acted as catalysts for poster creation, and federally funded series like ARTA dominated the media in an attempt to inform the American public on reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, many posters and media instead stigmatized and isolated different demographics, resulting in further objectification of the disease and ostracization of vulnerable groups.
Conclusion
Throughout the U of R’s collection of HIV/AIDS related posters, deeply entrenched motifs of racism, heteronormativity, stigma, and discrimination are weaved into nearly every element. These advertisements represent a small but curated window into the epidemic structured by racism, politics, homophobia, and blanketing United States culture during their creation. They do not strictly represent the individual experiences of the epidemic, but rather the overarching expectations and communal understanding conveyed to citizens at their time of creation.
These posters are an incredible piece of history, but do not necessarily represent the mindset of HIV/AIDS victims and their knowledge and experiences, which are far more complex than what can be conveyed throughout a collection of media. As such, reviewing this collection requires an understanding of both the human experience and the systemic forces that act upon it—the diverse communities which unified to fight HIV/AIDS, the fear and discrimination which were continually reinforced by legislation and America’s culture, and the posters and PSAs created to unify these characteristics under one set of themes and declarations.
Figures:
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11
Allen, Peter Lewis. “The Birth Of The Helms Amendment: How a Single Pamphlet Started an AIDS War.”In The Wages of Sin: Sex and Disease, Past and Present (University of Chicago Press, 2000). Retrieved October 12, 2024 from https://supreme.findlaw.com/legal-commentary/the-birth-of-the-helms-amendment.html.
Broad, K.L. “Gay and Race Cognizant: Interstitial Storytelling and the Narrative Positioning of an Interracial Gay Organization in the 1980s.” Sociological Forum, 37, no. 4 (2022): 1040-1062 DOI: 10.1111/socf.12856.
Clarke, Juanne N. “Homophobia Out of the Closet in the Media Portrayal of HIV/AIDS 1991, 1996, and 2001: Celebrity, Heterosexism, and the Silent Victims.” Critical Public Health, 16, no. 4 (2006): 317-330.
Cooter, Roger and Claudia Stein. “Positioning the image of AIDS.” Endeavor, 34, no. 1 (2010). DOI:10.1016/j.endeavour.2009.12.001.
Davis, Julia. “Evolution of an Epidemic: 25 Years of HIV/AIDS Media Campaigns in the U.S.” Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2006.Retrieved October 12 2024 from https://www.kff.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/7515.pdf.
Galarneau, Charlene. ‘The H in HIV Stands for Human, Not Haitian’: Cultural Imperialism in U.S. Blood Donor Policy.” Public Health Ethics, 3, no. 3 (2010): 210-219.
Gay Cable Network Cincinnati Bureau. “PSA – America Responds to AIDS: “The Sock.” December 5, 2009. YouTube Video, 0:29. https://youtu.be/SJkXJJQ46lI?si=zF-qW3M5XaGRQ3hw.
Geiling, Natasha. “The Confusing and At-Times Counterproductive 1980s
Response to the AIDS Epidemic.” Smithsonian Magazine, 2013. Retrieved October 12 2024 from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-confusing-and-at-times-counterproductive-1980s-response-to-the-aids-epidemic-180948611/.
Graff, Gilda. “Redesigning Racial Caste in America via Mass Incarceration.” The Journal of Psychohistory, 43, no. 2 (2015): 120-133.
Hill Collins, Patricia. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, 2nd Ed.Routledge, 2000.
Huber, Valerie J. and Michael W. Firmin. “A History of Sex Education in the United States Since 1900.” International Journal of Educational Reform, 23, no. 1 (2014): 25-51. DOI: 10.1177/105678791402300102.
Johnny, Leanne and Claudia Mitchell. “Live and Let Live”: An Analysis of HIV/AIDS-Related Stigma and Discrimination in International Campaign Posters.” Journal of Health Communication, 11, no. 8 (2007): 755-767. DOI: 10.1080/10810730600934708.
Jonsen, Albert R. and Jeff Stryker. The Social Impact Of AIDS In The United States. National Academies Press, 1993.
Lacher-Feldman, Jessica.“Collection with Purpose: The Legacy and Impact of Dr.
Edward Atwater’s AIDS Education Poster Collection.”Historic Brighton Newsletter and Journal, 23, no. 2 (2022). https://www.historicbrighton.org/2022/05/collection-with-purpose-the-legacy-and-impact-of-dr-edward-atwaters-aids-education-poster-collection-2/
Mahajan, Anish P., Jennifer N. Sayles, Vishal A. Patel, Robert H. Remien, Daniel J. Ortiz, Greg Szekeres, and Thomas J. Coates. “Stigma in the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: A Review of the Literature and Recommendations for the Way Forward.” AIDS, 22 (2008): S67-S79. DOI: 10.1097/01.aids.0000327438.13291.62.
Marguiles, Lee. “Television Confronts the Contraceptive Issue: Contraceptives Go Prime Time as TV Tackles Yet Another Once-Taboo Issue.” Los Angeles Times, (February 3, 1987).
Slagstad, Ketil. “Visualizing BDSM and AIDS Activism: Archiving Pleasures, Sanitizing History.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 78, no. 3 (2023): 270-303. DOI: 10.1093/jhmas/jrad012. https://academic.oup.com/jhmas/article/78/3/270/7100634?login=false
[1] Jessica Lacher-Feldman, “Collection with Purpose: The Legacy and Impact of Dr. Edward Atwater’s AIDS Education Poster Collection,” Historic Brighton Newsletter and Journal, 23, no. 2 (2022), 1-8.
[2] Leanne Johnny, Claudia Mitchell, “‘Live and Let Live’: An Analysis of HIV/AIDS-Related
Stigma and Discrimination in International Campaign Posters,” Journal of Health Information, 11, no. 8 (2007), 755-767.
[3] Roger Cooter, Claudia Stein, “Positioning the Image of AIDS,” Endeavor, 34, no. 1 (2010).
[4] See notes 2 and 3 above.
[5] Ketil Slagstad, “Visualizing BDSM and AIDS Activism: Archiving Pleasures, Sanitizing History,” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 78, no. 3 (2023), 270-303.
[6] Anish Mahajan et. al, “Stigma in the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: A Review of the Literature and Recommendations For The Way Forward,” AIDS, 22, no. 2 (2008), 67-79.
[7] Albert R. Josen and Jeff Stryker, The Social Impact of AIDS In The United States, National Academies Press, 1993.
[8] Natasha Geiling, “The Confusing and At-Times Counterproductive 1980s Response to the AIDS Epidemic,” Smithsonian Magazine, 2013, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-confusing-and-at-times-counterproductive-1980s-response-to-the-aids-epidemic-180948611/ .
[9] Peter Lewis Allen, “The Birth Of The Helms Amendment: How a Single Pamphlet Started An AIDS War,” in The Wages of Sin: Sex and Disease, Past and Present (University of Chicago Press, 2000), retrieved 12 October 2024 from https://supreme.findlaw.com/legal-commentary/th,e-birth-of-the-helms-amendment.html.
[10] K.L. Broad, “Gay and Race Cognizant: Interstitial Storytelling and the Narrative Positioning of an Interracial Gay Organization in the 1980s,” Sociological Forum, 37, no. 4 (2022), 1040-1062.
[11] Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, 2nd Ed. (Routledge, 2000).
[12] See note 11 above.
[13] Gilda Graff, “Redesigning Racial Caste in America via Mass Incarceration,” The Journal of Psychohistory, 43, no. 2 (2015), 120-133.
[14] Hill Collins, 85.
[15] Charlene Galarneau, “‘The H in HIV Stands for Human, Not Haitian’: Cultural Imperialism in US Blood Donor Policy,” Public Health Ethics, 3, no. 3 (2010), 210–219.
[16] Juanne N. Clarke, “Homophobia out of the Closet in the Media Portrayal of HIV/AIDS 1991, 1996 and 2001: Celebrity, Heterosexism and the Silent Victims,” Critical Public Health, 16, no. 4 (2006), 317–330.
[17] Julia Davis, “Evolution of an Epidemic: 25 Years of HIV/AIDS Media Campaigns in the U.S.” (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2006), retrieved 12 October 2024 from https://www.kff.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/7515.pdf.
[18] Valerie J. Huber, Mark W. Firmin, “A History of Sex Education in the United States Since 1900,” International Journal of Education Reform, 23, no. 1 (2014), 25-51.
[19] Gay Cable Network Cincinnati Bureau, “PSA – America Responds to AIDS: “The Sock,” December 5, 2009, YouTube Video, 0:29, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJkXJJQ46lI.