Overview

Catherine Waldby's informative study draws on feminist theory, cultural studies, the philosophy of science and gay and lesbian studies to problematise the factual scientific discourse about AIDS and interpret it as a political discourse. Waldby argues that much AIDS discourse relies on an implicit and unconscious equation between sexual health and heterosexual masculinity. In this equation between women, bisexual and gay men are the targets of preventative programmes, while heterosexual men tend to remain unaddressed by such programmes. Drawing upon examples of preventative policies from Australia, Britain and the USA, Waldby investigates the concept of public health and questions whose interests are represented in a healthy society'. AIDS and the Body Politic demonstrates the extent to which established ideas about the virus, the immune system, the HIV test and the epidemiology of the disease rely upon unexamined, conservative assumptions about sexual identity and sexual difference.

Full Product Details

Author:   Catherine Waldby (Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK) ,  Murdoch University,Australia
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.20cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.294kg
ISBN:  

9780415141307

ISBN 10:   0415141303
Pages:   192
Publication Date:   05 September 1996
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION: TOTAL WAR 2 THE BIOMEDICAL IMAGINATION AND THE ANATOMICAL BODY: AIDS AND THE NATURE/ CULTURE DISTINCTION 3 THE PRIMAL SCENE OF IMMUNOLOGY 4 EPIDEMIOLOGY AND THE BODY POLITIC 5 TECHNOLOGIES OF THE BODY POLITIC: THE HIV ANTIBODY TEST 6 CONCLUSION: SEXUAL IDENTITY AND CONTAMINATION

Reviews

AIDS and the Body Politic traces the fascinating yet disturbing shape of how culturally desirable is the clean, self-identical and sharply bounded (male) body, protected against infection, and how culturally horrifying are open, uncontrolled (female and gay male) bodies, prone to collecting and proliferating infection. This work is an important and fresh analysis of how cultural material informs biomedical and epidemiological models and measures.. <br>- Emily Martin <br>

Author Information

Catherine Waldby currently teaches in the Communications and Cultural Studies programme and the Women’s Studies programme at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia.

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