Risky sex - risky language: HIV/AIDS and the West German gay scene in the 1980s

Abstract: This article focuses on the West German gay subculture and its early reactions to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It analyses how gay men coped with an uncertain epistemological situation in which the medical, social and political status of HIV/AIDS was far from being evident, and in which the ambivalent connection of AIDS, risk and gay sexuality became the object of strong scientific and public interest. The article argues that gay men distinguished between two dimensions of AIDS risk: risky sex and risky language. On the one hand, they developed a strong awareness for the riskiness of their sexual behaviour, resulting in the will to consider AIDS as a disease of their own. On the other hand, they were irritated by the ambiguity of the public AIDS discourse. Its imagery went far beyond AIDS as a medical entity and was believed to conceal antigay politics behind medical facts. In analysing the emerging gay risk strategies, the article points out that gay activists and organisations critical

Angaben zum Objekt

• Weitere Titel: Riskanter Sex - riskante Sprache: HIV/AIDS und die westdeutsche Schwulenszene in den 1980ern
• Standort: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Umfang: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Risky sex - risky language: HIV/AIDS and the West German gay scene in the 1980s ; volume:41 ; number:1 ; year:2016 ; pages:111-134 ; Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; Historical social research ; 41, Heft 1 (2016), 111-134

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Geschichte

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Urheber: Haus, Sebastian

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: 10.12759/hsr.41.2016.1.111-134
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-46503-3
• Rechteinformation: Open Access; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 14.08.2025, 10:53 MESZ