AIDS Represented Within the Media

Authors

  • Emily MacIsaac

Keywords:

Epidemology, America, Illness, HIV/AIDS

Abstract

This paper is about the media portrayal of HIV/AIDS within America primarily during the first two decades of the epidemic. This paper will outline different types of media and how they portrayed those affected with this illness. The news mainly indicated that those who were gay, intravenous drug-users, or haemophiliacs were the key demographic to contract HIV/AIDS. Many began to feel invincible to HIV/AIDS because the media was highlighting specific demographics of people. The Center of Disease Control‘s (CDC) statistics indicate that gay men were not the ‘high risk‘ population, but young African and Hispanic adults were at highest risk. The purpose of this paper is to indicate that the media swayed public opinion, as seen in Kathleen Farrell‘s study, which spread misconceptions about how this illness was contracted, transmitted, and how HIV positive individuals led their lives.

Author Biography

Emily MacIsaac

Emily MacIsaac is a Dalhousie MLIS student, who has an undergraduate degree in History from the University of Prince Edward Island. The paper she is presenting, AIDS Represented Within the Media, represents her love for history and her love of cultural history. This paper was written for the Information in Society course as this assignment required a topic that dealt with, just that, information within society. Emily chose this topic because it was relevant to her interests, and HIV/AIDS is still relevant today as it has effected how many institutions teach sexual education to young adults. Emily enjoyed writing this paper, and is excited to share her work by publishing this paper.

References

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Farrell, K. P. (2006). HIV on TV: Conversations with young gay men. Sexualities, 9(2), 193-213.

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Published

2017-04-06

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Articles