Us and them
Your replies to our 2002 Readers Survey provided superb
feedback on what you want from your HIV magazine. We're acting on it already.
Inevitably though, the Survey contained some contradictory messages too.
"More/less about gay men." "More/less about families."
"Too much/not enough sex."
More about us, please, and less about them.
We could tell ourselves that if everyone says this, we must be getting
the balance right. But that would avoid tackling some very real issues.
Take the ongoing debate in the letters page about the GMFA 'headfuck'
ad that appeared on the back cover of the May issue.
This magazine is no use if people can't be seen with it or take it home.
One African reader said: "I live with my grandparents. They know
I have HIV, but I can't leave your magazine lying around."
Yet, you can't deal with HIV by pussyfooting around sex. HIV spreads by
taking advantage of human embarrassment. Remember the old ACT UP slogan:
Silence = death.
There's a bigger issue however, than whether some individuals are shocked.
We also have to keep pace with the changing UK epidemic. Over half of
new HIV cases last year were among heterosexuals, mainly of African origin,
mainly women. One in four positive people in the UK define themselves
as black.
So far, however, only one in 10 of our readers do. Many do not find it
easy to pick up any HIV magazine. One recent study revealed that many
positive African women still
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live in utter isolation, not daring to reveal their status to anyone but their
