"If you can't keep it zipped, keep it covered."
November 6, 2011 9:58 AM Subscribe
University of Rochester's libraries curate a vast collection of AIDS education posters from around the world, with almost 1500 available to view online. (via)
There are some great posters here and it's a bloody shame that the images cover no more than about nine square inches of my screen with no way to enlarge. I looked at about three before I got frustrated and gave up.
This one (one of the first results) is good though and speaks to an aspect of the AIDS problem which, in the USA at least, is still ongoing. I found it on a different site where it can be viewed larger: AIDS: 1 in 61
If you ask people in the US what group of people here have the highest rates of HIV, you'll usually "gay males" as an answer, even from fairly enlightened folks. While we've made some strides toward addressing the pernicious myth that AIDS is exclusively a "gay disease," most people still take it as given that it is nonetheless most prevalent in that part of the population.
This perception is incorrect. Who among Americans have the highest rates of HIV? African-American women. That we refuse to face this fact and address the systemic issues that drive this and cause it to be the case is shameful and speaks to the many, many ways in which we as a country have yet to put racism and sexism behind us.
There's so much more work to be done.
posted by Scientist at 10:45 AM on November 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
This one (one of the first results) is good though and speaks to an aspect of the AIDS problem which, in the USA at least, is still ongoing. I found it on a different site where it can be viewed larger: AIDS: 1 in 61
If you ask people in the US what group of people here have the highest rates of HIV, you'll usually "gay males" as an answer, even from fairly enlightened folks. While we've made some strides toward addressing the pernicious myth that AIDS is exclusively a "gay disease," most people still take it as given that it is nonetheless most prevalent in that part of the population.
This perception is incorrect. Who among Americans have the highest rates of HIV? African-American women. That we refuse to face this fact and address the systemic issues that drive this and cause it to be the case is shameful and speaks to the many, many ways in which we as a country have yet to put racism and sexism behind us.
There's so much more work to be done.
posted by Scientist at 10:45 AM on November 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
Edit: you'll usually get "gay males" as an answer.
posted by Scientist at 10:46 AM on November 6, 2011
posted by Scientist at 10:46 AM on November 6, 2011
This perception is incorrect. Who among Americans have the highest rates of HIV? African-American women.
Do you have some good links I could share, regarding that?
posted by cashman at 10:52 AM on November 6, 2011
Do you have some good links I could share, regarding that?
posted by cashman at 10:52 AM on November 6, 2011
If you ask people in the US what group of people here have the highest rates of HIV, you'll usually "gay males" as an answer, even from fairly enlightened folks. While we've made some strides toward addressing the pernicious myth that AIDS is exclusively a "gay disease," most people still take it as given that it is nonetheless most prevalent in that part of the population.
I don't want to turn this into a digression from the excellent post, but can you back that up with some statistics? It surprised me, and both the CDC incidence page seems to differ from your statement, both in cumulative cases and incidences in 2009.
posted by true at 10:53 AM on November 6, 2011
I don't want to turn this into a digression from the excellent post, but can you back that up with some statistics? It surprised me, and both the CDC incidence page seems to differ from your statement, both in cumulative cases and incidences in 2009.
posted by true at 10:53 AM on November 6, 2011
They need to get their hands on this poster from Botswana.
posted by PenDevil at 11:01 AM on November 6, 2011
posted by PenDevil at 11:01 AM on November 6, 2011
OK, I too am having difficulty finding statistics to back up my assertion. While it appears that MSM (men who have sex with men) are still at greatest risk, the statistics do show that minorities, in particular African-Americans, bear a disproportionate amount of risk compared to the population at large. Some statistics here.
While it seems that I may myself have been the victim of a false perception (though most of my information has come from local volunteers in anti-HIV nonprofits, so it's possible that the statistics are somewhat different for New Orleans than they are for the country at large) my larger point still stands. Not enough attention is drawn to the fact that women and minorities are at much higher risk of HIV than heterosexual white males, and this needs to change.
posted by Scientist at 11:07 AM on November 6, 2011
While it seems that I may myself have been the victim of a false perception (though most of my information has come from local volunteers in anti-HIV nonprofits, so it's possible that the statistics are somewhat different for New Orleans than they are for the country at large) my larger point still stands. Not enough attention is drawn to the fact that women and minorities are at much higher risk of HIV than heterosexual white males, and this needs to change.
posted by Scientist at 11:07 AM on November 6, 2011
If you ask people in the US what group of people here have the highest rates of HIV, you'll usually "gay males" as an answer, even from fairly enlightened folks.
My first wife was doing her Internal Medicine residency at a large public hospital in a Southern capital in the late 1980s. Many of her first patients were suffering from AIDS - and the peculiar diseases that fell far outside the textbooks - adult males suffering from thrush and all sorts of other things ER doctors were not trained to expect. Admitting a "hiver with a shiver" (an AIDS patient with a fever) meant a long night as the myriad of tests she had to run got longer and longer.
I well-remember the mild panic of the time, ACT-UP, the signs "Silence=Death". You gotta give credit, the gay community did a job to get the message out.
You don't hear so much about HIV/AIDS anymore. Not like that anyway. It seems to me that DADT and marriage are the major issues confronting gay people nowadays. AIDS and HIV - maybe because of the success of earlier efforts - not so much.
what group of people here have the highest rates of HIV, you'll usually "gay males" as an answer, even from fairly enlightened folks
I think the bigger problem is that a lot of people might say "HIV... Isn't that the disease Magic Johnson was cured of? or, Isn't that the disease people in Africa get?" The public perception of who gets it, it seems to me, is less of an issue than the perception that it's no longer a problem.
posted by three blind mice at 11:20 AM on November 6, 2011
My first wife was doing her Internal Medicine residency at a large public hospital in a Southern capital in the late 1980s. Many of her first patients were suffering from AIDS - and the peculiar diseases that fell far outside the textbooks - adult males suffering from thrush and all sorts of other things ER doctors were not trained to expect. Admitting a "hiver with a shiver" (an AIDS patient with a fever) meant a long night as the myriad of tests she had to run got longer and longer.
I well-remember the mild panic of the time, ACT-UP, the signs "Silence=Death". You gotta give credit, the gay community did a job to get the message out.
You don't hear so much about HIV/AIDS anymore. Not like that anyway. It seems to me that DADT and marriage are the major issues confronting gay people nowadays. AIDS and HIV - maybe because of the success of earlier efforts - not so much.
what group of people here have the highest rates of HIV, you'll usually "gay males" as an answer, even from fairly enlightened folks
I think the bigger problem is that a lot of people might say "HIV... Isn't that the disease Magic Johnson was cured of? or, Isn't that the disease people in Africa get?" The public perception of who gets it, it seems to me, is less of an issue than the perception that it's no longer a problem.
posted by three blind mice at 11:20 AM on November 6, 2011
Amazing.
posted by facehugger at 12:13 PM on November 6, 2011
posted by facehugger at 12:13 PM on November 6, 2011
There are some great posters here and it's a bloody shame that the images cover no more than about nine square inches of my screen with no way to enlarge. I looked at about three before I got frustrated and gave up.
At least in my browser, mousing over the image zooms in on that area -- I'd still rather have the entire image enlarged, but perhaps there were copyright concerns? Or they just decided to be high-tech at the expense of usability?
That quibble aside, these are amazing images, and I'm glad that someone is collecting them and making them available.
OK, I too am having difficulty finding statistics to back up my assertion.
Is it possible that you were thinking of the rate of increase in new cases, as compared to the actual numbers of cases? That, or another secondary HIV statistic, might have women of color at the top, even though gay males represent the preponderance of cases.
posted by Forktine at 12:23 PM on November 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
At least in my browser, mousing over the image zooms in on that area -- I'd still rather have the entire image enlarged, but perhaps there were copyright concerns? Or they just decided to be high-tech at the expense of usability?
That quibble aside, these are amazing images, and I'm glad that someone is collecting them and making them available.
OK, I too am having difficulty finding statistics to back up my assertion.
Is it possible that you were thinking of the rate of increase in new cases, as compared to the actual numbers of cases? That, or another secondary HIV statistic, might have women of color at the top, even though gay males represent the preponderance of cases.
posted by Forktine at 12:23 PM on November 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
You don't hear so much about HIV/AIDS anymore. Not like that anyway. It seems to me that DADT and marriage are the major issues confronting gay people nowadays. AIDS and HIV - maybe because of the success of earlier efforts - not so much.
In the last two years or so, I've noticed a good deal of advertising here (Minneapolis) encouraging people to get tested. The first wave a year or so ago was targeting young gay men (there were ads in bus shelters near the gay clubs, at least the ones I pass regularly). Now, we've got two different ad campaigns in the buses that don't seem to be targeting any specific population. (One is from a clinic that targets the queer community, but the ads are generic. The other is from the state department of health, I think.)
I think there's a great deal of worry that young people are becoming complacent. We're not that far off from the people starting college having been born after the discovery of the triple cocktail.
posted by hoyland at 5:41 PM on November 6, 2011
In the last two years or so, I've noticed a good deal of advertising here (Minneapolis) encouraging people to get tested. The first wave a year or so ago was targeting young gay men (there were ads in bus shelters near the gay clubs, at least the ones I pass regularly). Now, we've got two different ad campaigns in the buses that don't seem to be targeting any specific population. (One is from a clinic that targets the queer community, but the ads are generic. The other is from the state department of health, I think.)
I think there's a great deal of worry that young people are becoming complacent. We're not that far off from the people starting college having been born after the discovery of the triple cocktail.
posted by hoyland at 5:41 PM on November 6, 2011
I think this poster inspired the title of Nirvana's first album. Ironically, the poster that Kurt had mocked was aimed at the ranks of IV drug abusers that would later include Cobain himself.
posted by jonp72 at 10:03 PM on November 6, 2011
posted by jonp72 at 10:03 PM on November 6, 2011
Huh. I went to U of R. Guess that explains all the AIDS posters in the main room of the Library. I always thought it a bit odd and wondered why they didn't rotate them.
posted by Wemmick at 11:54 PM on November 6, 2011
posted by Wemmick at 11:54 PM on November 6, 2011
Do you have some good links I could share, regarding that?
New HIV infections up 50 percent in gay black men
New multi-year data show annual HIV infections in U.S. relatively stable: alarming increase among young, black gay and bisexual men requires urgent action
CDC: Alarming spike in HIV rates for gay, bi black men
Pull quote: " 'More than 30 years into the HIV epidemic, about 50,000 people in this country still become infected each year,' Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC's director, said in a statement. 'Not only do men who have sex with men continue to account for most new infections, young gay and bisexual men are the only group in which infections are increasing, and this increase is particularly concerning among young African American [men who have sex with men].'
"The reports found no statistically significant change for black men or black women overall during the four-year period, but said that black men who are gay or bisexual were the only subpopulation to have a 'statistically significant' increase over that span. The number of 4,400 new cases in 2006 to 6,500 in 2009 -- a 48 percent spike."
posted by blucevalo at 8:01 AM on November 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
New HIV infections up 50 percent in gay black men
New multi-year data show annual HIV infections in U.S. relatively stable: alarming increase among young, black gay and bisexual men requires urgent action
CDC: Alarming spike in HIV rates for gay, bi black men
Pull quote: " 'More than 30 years into the HIV epidemic, about 50,000 people in this country still become infected each year,' Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC's director, said in a statement. 'Not only do men who have sex with men continue to account for most new infections, young gay and bisexual men are the only group in which infections are increasing, and this increase is particularly concerning among young African American [men who have sex with men].'
"The reports found no statistically significant change for black men or black women overall during the four-year period, but said that black men who are gay or bisexual were the only subpopulation to have a 'statistically significant' increase over that span. The number of 4,400 new cases in 2006 to 6,500 in 2009 -- a 48 percent spike."
posted by blucevalo at 8:01 AM on November 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
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