Aids
Lessons from the Gay Community
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3946264 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cindy Patton (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1988 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 105-111 |
| Publication date | 1988-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Feminist Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0141-7789 • E-ISSN: 1466-4380 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1057/fr.1988.46 |
| OpenAlex | W2024981761 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 4 |
Theoretical work on the cultural implications of AIDS arises from the work of academics and activists using both feminist and gay liberation theories. Feminist and gay liberationist theorists are concerned with gender and sexuality, though the theories of ten prioritize one over the other. Feminism has tended to view gay men as oppressed to the extent that they are 'like women', and gay liberation has often had difficulty distinguishing between the problems faced by lesbians and those faced by gay men. I began thinking about and becoming involved in AIDS organizing in late 1982. About a dozen men and women in Boston had been diagnosed with AIDS at that time, half of whom had died. From late 1982 through 1984, there was a doubling of cases every three months, a virtual media blackout of AIDS, and an almost universal wish to ignore what was clearly a burgeoning health and political crisis. There were few clues to the medical course of the epidemic, much less guidelines for future health-care policy decisions. It was almost immediately clear that AIDS hysteria endangered civil liberties and the quest for sexual liberation, whatever that might come to mean. People I knew were getting sick and dying. AIDS hit closer and closer to home, disrupting my closest relationships as I had to deal with interrupted careers, constant grief and lost friends. By 1985, everyone I knew was in an emotional tailspin as they coped with death and dying when they were supposed to be entering the primes of their careers and accomplishing their first major life goals. My sense of urgency began when my best friend from high school, who still lived in North Carolina, died of AIDS early in 1983. Few people in Boston felt this sense of urgency, and those of us who did were often fairly hysterical. We were accused of paranoia, although many of our worst-case scenarios are now debated in public policy circles as if it is
Feminism · Grief · Human sexuality · Political science · Politics · Psychiatry · Sociology · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Anthropology · Cultural Studies · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations · Gender Studies · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Psychology
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,06 |
| Citation span | 1990 - 1990 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |