"I Don't Want No Faggot Blood on Me": A study on HIV and AIDS and its effect on underlying communities in America: A study on HIV and AIDS and its effect on underlying communities in America

"I Don't Want No Faggot Blood on Me": A study on HIV and AIDS and its effect on underlying communities in America

Moesgaard, Pernille Bjørn ; Bech, Camilla Emmy

4. term

English, Master

2022

2022-05-30

100

Dette speciale giver et historisk overblik over AIDS-krisen fra 1981 til i dag og sammenligner, hvordan den er blevet omtalt i samfundsdebatten og skildret i litteratur og på skærmen, samt hvordan disse fortællinger stadig præger holdninger. Med udgangspunkt i Susan Sontags idé om sygdomme som metaforer vises, hvordan AIDS blev knyttet til skam og til det, der blev stemplet som afvigende livsstile, hvilket skabte en os-mod-dem-opdeling. Manglende viden om årsager og smitteveje forstærkede denne opdeling og nærede stigma. Erving Goffmans teori om stigma bruges til at forklare, hvordan stempling fungerer, og hvilke strategier mennesker anvender for at klare den—såsom passing (at skjule et stigmatiseret træk) og covering (at nedtone det). W. E. B. Du Bois’ begreb om dobbelt bevidsthed viser, hvordan stigmatiserede grupper bliver skarpt opmærksomme på andres blik, og hvordan det former daglige valg. Fordi identiteter overlapper, anvendes intersektionalitet til at undersøge, hvordan seksualitet, race, klasse og andre kategorier tilsammen skaber forskellige diskriminationserfaringer på tværs af eksemplerne. I lyset af de mange dødsfald bruges Judith Butlers begreb om grievability (hvorvidt et liv anses som sørgbart) til at spørge, hvis liv der offentligt sørges over og beskyttes, og hvordan prekære livsbetingelser defineres af sociale normer. Pierre Bourdieus begreb habitus bruges derefter til at vise, hvordan sådanne normer læres, reproduceres og kan ændre sig over tid. Politisk fremhæves præsident Ronald Reagans fire år lange offentlige tavshed efter de første tilfælde og hans tilknytning til et konservativt, normorienteret vælgergrundlag som forhold, der bidrog til stigma over for homoseksuelle og mennesker med AIDS. HBO-miniserien Angels in America analyseres for sin nøgterne skildring af fysiske og mentale symptomer, sin fremstilling af religionens rolle i den vedvarende stigmatisering af homoseksualitet og AIDS, sin opmærksomhed på klasseskel og sin insisteren på håb i en håbløs tid. Som andet medieeksempel viser Dallas Buyers Club AIDS, homofobi, klasseskel og fremstiller FDA (det amerikanske lægemiddelagentur) som en fælles modstander. Afslutningsvis rettes blikket mod nutiden, hvor internettet og andre medier er blevet vigtige ressourcer i kampen mod sygdommen, sammen med HIV-forebyggelsesprogrammer, med særlig opmærksomhed på afroamerikanere.

This thesis offers a historical overview of the AIDS crisis from 1981 to today and compares how it has been discussed in society and depicted in literature and on screen, and how these stories still shape attitudes. Drawing on Susan Sontag’s idea of illnesses as metaphors, the study shows how AIDS was linked to shame and to what was labeled deviant lifestyles, producing an us-versus-them divide. Limited public knowledge about causes and transmission reinforced this divide and fueled stigma. Erving Goffman’s theory of stigma is used to explain how labeling works and the strategies people use to cope—such as passing (hiding a stigmatized trait) and covering (downplaying it). W. E. B. Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness helps show how stigmatized groups become keenly aware of how they are seen and how this shapes everyday choices. Because identities overlap, the analysis uses intersectionality to examine how sexuality, race, class, and other categories combine to create different experiences of discrimination across the examples. Given the crisis’s many deaths, Judith Butler’s notion of grievability asks whose lives are publicly mourned and protected, linking this to precarious living conditions defined by social norms. Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus is then used to show how such norms are learned, reproduced, and can change over time. Politically, the thesis highlights President Ronald Reagan’s four-year public silence after the first cases and his association with conservative, norm-oriented constituencies as factors that contributed to stigma toward homosexuals and people with AIDS. The HBO miniseries Angels in America is analyzed for its unromanticized depiction of physical and psychological symptoms, its portrayal of religion’s role in sustaining stigma around homosexuality and AIDS, its attention to class differences, and its insistence on hope in a bleak period. As a second media case, Dallas Buyers Club depicts AIDS, homophobia, class differences, and portrays the FDA as a common adversary. Finally, the study looks at the present, noting how the internet and other media have become important resources in confronting the disease, alongside HIV prevention programs, with particular attention to African American communities.

[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]

HIV ; AIDS ; Stigma ; Homosexuality ; Angels in America ; Dallas Buyers Club ; Homophobia

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