This week's Question of the Week was a really interesting one. I liked being able to look at other people's opinions and conceptions about HIV and AIDS. One thing that really caught my attention when I was questioning my family was when I asked them if they would treat someone who had HIV differently than someone who did not. My mom said that even though she knew that you cannot catch HIV from a toilet seat, she would still try not to use the bathroom after them. She was not being ignorant, she knew you could not catch it that way, it was just something that would make her feel more comfortable. This really made me think about the views some people have about people with HIV. They look at them as people who are infected almost as if they have a plague and people that they should avoid. When watching one of the videos for assignment 4, I remember a part about a joke Eddie Murphy told. "It petrifies me 'cos girls be hanging out with [gay men]. One night they could be in the club having fun with their gay friend, give them a little kiss. And go home with AIDS on their lips !" (Gowers 1983). I'm not sure if Eddie Murphy actually knew that you cannot catch AIDS this way, but either way I think the joke was extremely distasteful. I can understand why the gay community was outraged at this joke. It is not fair to treat people with HIV or AIDS as if you can't come in contact with them, and it hurts peoples' feelings.
Did You Know - that in the USA, heterosexual transmission accounts for 72% of female HIV infections. (Avert, 2009) I think this is why it is so important to educate people about HIV and AIDS. I am still in shock that we are taught so little about HIV and AIDS in school and in the media. I mean, sure, I've heard about it, I know how you can get it but I had no idea how common it was. Also, I didn't really know much about what it was like for someone to be sick with HIV, I have never seen any examples or stories. It wasn't really something that ever entered my mind when making decisions. If I had taken this class, or been given a little bit of education similar to this in school, I think I would have taken the risk much more seriously.
Avert. (2009, September 18). Women, HIV and AIDS. Retrieved September 21, 2009, from http://www.avert.org/women-hiv-aids.htm.
Gowers, B. (Producer). 1983. Delirious. [Film]. Entertainment Studio.
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I found your mother's feeling odd as well. She probably uses the public restrooms when she is out and about, and yet I wonder if she thinks about who used it before her. If that were the case, I would guess that she would have a hard time when out of the house.
ReplyDeleteThe joke by Eddie Murphy is exactly the type of thing that was happening in the 80s. Gay men became the brunt of many jokes about HIV and AIDS.
You will find as you research that globally women are becoming infected at a greater rate than are men. You might want to read the UNAIDS Global HIV report for 2008.
Hi Holly,
ReplyDeleteThis is all too familiar to me. When I was 19 I had brain surgery, during this time my brother was in the last stages of AIDS and we as a family had traveled to see him before he passed. In arriving to the city where he lived, I wasn't allowed to see him because I had stitches in tact covering my very obvious scalping. Our former neighbor, where we stayed during the visit, wouldn't allow me to see my brother because she said I could get infected because of my unhealed wounds. Now this is not an airborne disease we're talking about and she (at the time) was very educated on the subject, she was a social worker who dealt closely with the disease. At that particular time in the 90's there was still so much unknown about the disease. My brother passed and I didn't get to see him but it didn't help that now as an adult I'm learning that contractibility amongst other things is very unlikely unless there is a bodily fluid or sexual exchange. So, in short, they are people too and respect for them in so many ways is stilllacking.
Hey Holly!
ReplyDeleteI have to say I'm a self-admitted germophobe so I understand your mom's discomfort to public restrooms, but I am not fearful of the fact that the person before me had HIV, just that germs and viruses that are lurking in public places in general. I shiver at the thought. I took microbiology a few semesters ago and someone swabbed a toilet seat, the results... let's just say that petri-dish did not come out empty. But the payphone that I swabbed looked just as bad.
As for the Eddie Murphy joke, I do think it's hilarious, roll on the floor laughing... BECAUSE OF HOW VERY SO LAUGHABLY UNTRUE it is. It's laughable that he'd think that was okay to not only point out a completely unreal way of contracting HIV, but to associate it with a demographic, I think you were being nice by saying it was simply distasteful.
I'm so glad you are feeling like you are growing in this class too, and I think it's pretty evident that you are. With an open mind and I heart, I feel like people in the class who really soak up everything they can from it the way you are will be the ones who really make all the difference in the future and our global battle to new treatment (both physical and emotional treatment of those with HIV and AIDS) and a cure!
Hey Holly,
ReplyDeleteIt is so true that there in not enough information that is given out on HIV. I think schools and the media should give importance to this topic and it will serve as a source of prevention. I did not know how common it is until this class and I can only image how most non-health science majors would perceive people with this disease.
That's crazy but so true. I remember reading about that during my research. Many people think that you only get HIV or AIDS when your a homosexual but they don't take into account that in reality its heterosexual relations that cause most of the spread. And I also agree with you about the lack of awareness. In those sex ed classes in high school you really didn't learn much at all.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! Schools don't do a very good job about educating students about HIV/AIDS, or any other PSA for that matter. I really can't even remember any people coming to talk to us when I was in elementary or high school, which shows the little impact they left! And to the Eddie Murphy joke...come on. Way too soon.
ReplyDelete