Outwrite Issue 54 What Women Should Know About AIDS

Outwrite Issue 54 What Women Should Know About AIDS

Women

Lesbians

Sexual health

AIDS education

AIDS (Disease)

HIV (Viruses)

Safer sex

Safe sex in AIDS prevention

Sex accessories

Condoms

Dental dams

Self-insemination

Sperm donors

Female prostitution

LGBTQ+ discrimination

Feminism

HIV/AIDS

Article from Outwrite, a women's newsletter, issue 54, pages 10 to 11. Dated January 1987 [not visible in scan!!] and entitled "AIDS: what women should know". Lesley Dike of the Women's Reproductive Rights Information Centre discusses the issues surrounding gender imbalance in public and political opinion, information and media reporting about AIDS. Questions: "[i]s it any wonder then that many think AIDS is not an issue for women? Is the government campaign going to be able to redress the balance so women are given concrete information about how to protect ourselves and our children. Will the media start taking responsibility for the kind of reporting that piles guilt onto gay men and drug users and sees everyone else as innocent victims?" Page 10 opens with highlighting "the control that men exert over women's sexuality", and states that women must continue to fight for "the free and informed choice to have sexual relationships when and with whom we [women] want, and the right to control our own sexuality." Explains how AIDS is transmitted through bodily fluids containing T4 cells, and how any sexual practices that penetrate the skin or mucous membranes (e.g. vagina, anus, mouth) increase the chances of infected T4 cells entering the body. How women get or pass on AIDS. A word about condoms. Notes that semen contains high concentrations of T4 cells which means men can transmit AIDS more sexually than women. Mentions about "re-educating men to take responsibility" and not leaving it to women to make sure men wear condoms. Number of women affected by AIDS. Lesbians and AIDS. Notes that there is no documented cases of [sexual] transmission from woman to woman. Also notes that IV drug use is the biggest risk factor for lesbians. References the US Women's AIDS Network who "recommends that lesbians at risk use latex barriers (squares of thin rubber) for oral sex and finger cots (like sheaths for the fingers) for hand to genital contact." Highlights the "very serious consequences of the media hype on AIDS for lesbians [which] has been the homophobic reaction of the general public. Many people lump gay men and lesbians together about the danger of AIDS, when in fact, lesbians are a low risk group." Also highlights how AIDS has affected "self-insemination" and lesbians' ability to use gay men as sperm donors because fewer men feel safe donating. Section of article torn out. Text displayed underneath is not related to the article in question. Page 11 discusses how prostitutes are "a target of abuse [...] in relation to the spread of AIDS." To test or not to test? The Government Campaign. The Origin of AIDS. Notes the "great deal of speculation as to where AIDS came from, with theories about the virus being created in a US laboratory as a form of germ warfare or that it has come from outer space." Provides figures for "AIDS cases up to October '86". Conclusion advertises a working group on Women and AIDS. Also informs readers about booklets, such as "Women and AIDS" and "To test or not to test", available from "Terence Higgins Trust, BM AIDS, WC1N 3XX". Address for Women's Reproductive Rights Information Centre is 52-54 Featherstone Street, London. Also worth noting pages 10 and 11 contain interesting cartoons related to sexual health and AIDS.

Outwrite

Arthur Leahy Collection

1987-01

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application/pdf

eng

Newsletter

Text

2017.21.5.1.378

1987

London

United Kingdom