Power, Prestige, Profit: AIDS and the Oppression of Homosexual People

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Abstract
Scientific discussion about homosexuality is often a mixture of science, myth, religion, politics and emotion. Homosexual behaviour has been variously defined as sick, criminally deviant and heathen, its participants in need of punishment, cure and control In the 1980s, with the appearance of the deadly AIDS virus, this overt and covert hostility has gained new impetus. Not only are gays a threat to a multitude of 'decent' values in society, they are also a threat to the 'decent' members of society. Alongside control-talk the new virus has provided a challenge to the medical profession. Careers and monetary gain can be made out of AIDS The news media received its cut by exploiting public curiosity and fear and by satisfying the need for villains and heros, entering and feeding the general rush for emotion, using and being used, all for profit Struggle for expertise means defining out the perceived competition and alternative viewpoints. An attempt by the medical profession to define the AIDS issue as a medical problem has, above all, to do with power, prestige and especially profit. In the middle of all these secondary issues, those suffering from AIDS or fearing it, tend to be forgotten.

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