In the wake of National HIV Awareness Week, and the release of Channel 4’s It’s a Sin, what parallels can we form between the HIV/AIDs pandemic of the 1980s and today’s Covid-19 pandemic? It’s a Sin is the first British-specific show that tackles the devastating effects of HIV on young people in the 80s. ‘Lies, […]
Almost thirty years ago, on the 3rd of July, 1981 Lawrence K. Altman published an article in The New York Times that would come to be known as the “gay cancer” story. This was one of the first mentions of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in mainstream society, and it would undoubtedly become paramount in perpetuating harmful […]
5 stars ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ CW: queerphobia Russell T Davies has long been treasured for his contributions to queer British drama. It’s been over two decades since Queer as Folk (1999) was released which was hailed as ground-breaking, yet the show garnered criticism for its failure to address the HIV/Aids epidemic. Now, Davies […]
The original name that was given to HIV was Gay-related Immune Deficiency (GRID) and was based on the assumption that only gay men could contract it. This name did not stick, but the myth did. Although HIV does disproportionately affect men who have sex with men – according to the Terrence Higgins Trust, “of the 4,363 […]