[Introduction]

Author(s): Douglas Crimp

Source: October, Vol. 43, AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Activism (Winter, 1987), pp. 3-16
Published by: The MIT Press
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 AIDS: Cultural Analysis/
Cultural Activism

DOUGLAS CRIMP

"I assert,to begin with,that 'disease' does not exist. It is thereforeillusory

to thinkthatone can 'develop beliefs'about it to 'respond' to it. What does exist
is not disease but practices." Thus begins Francois Delaporte's investigationof
the 1832 cholera epidemic in Paris.' It is a statementwe may find difficultto
swallow,as we witnessthe ravages of AIDS in the bodies of our friends,our
lovers,and ourselves.But it is neverthelesscrucialto our understandingof AIDS,
because it shattersthe mythso centralto liberalviewsof the epidemic: thatthere
are, on the one hand, the scientificfactsabout AIDS and, on the other hand,
ignorance or misrepresentation of those factsstandingin the way of a rational
response. I willthereforefollow Delaporte's assertion:AIDS does not existapart
fromthe practicesthatconceptualizeit,representit,and respond to it. We know
AIDS only in and throughthose practices. This assertiondoes not contest the
existence of viruses,antibodies, infections,or transmissionroutes. Least of all
does it contestthe realityof illness,suffering, and death. What it doescontestis
the notion that there is an underlyingrealityof AIDS, upon which are con-
structed the representations,or the culture, or the politics of AIDS. If we
recognize that AIDS existsonly in and throughthese constructions,then hope-
fullywe can also recognizethe imperativeto knowthem,analyze them,and wrest
controlof them.
Within the arts, the scientificexplanation and management of AIDS is
largelytakenforgranted,and it is thereforeassumed thatculturalproducerscan
respondto the epidemicin onlytwo ways:byraisingmoneyforscientificresearch
and serviceorganizationsor by creatingworksthatexpress the human suffering
and loss. In an article for Horizon entitled "AIDS: The Creative Response,"
David Kaufmanoutlinedexamples of both,includingbenefitssuch as "Music for
Life," "Dancing for Life," and "Art against AIDS," togetherwithdescriptions

1. FranCoisDelaporte, Disease and Civilization:The Cholerain Paris, 1832, trans. ArthurGold-

hammer,Cambridge, Massachusetts,and London, England, MIT Press, 1986, p. 6.

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4 CRIMP

of plays, literature,and paintingsthat take AIDS as their subject.2 Regarding

these latter "creative responses," Kaufman rehearses the cliches about art's
"expressingfeelingsthatare not easilyarticulated,""shar[ing]experiencesand
values throughcatharsisand metaphor," "demonstratingthe indomitabilityof
the human spirit,""consciousnessraising." Art is what survives,endures, tran-
scends; art constitutesour legacy. In this regard, AIDS is even seen to have a
positivevalue: Kaufmanquotes Michael Denneny of St. Martin'sPress as saying,
"We're on the vergeof gettinga literatureout of thisthatwillbe a renaissance."3
In July 1987, PBS's McNeillLehrerNewshourdevoted a portionof its pro-
gram to "AIDS in the Arts." The segment opened with the shibbolethabout
"homosexuals" being "the lifebloodof show businessand the arts," and wenton
to note the AIDS-related deathsof a numberof famousartists.Such a pretextfor
a special reporton AIDS is highlyproblematic,and on a numberof counts: First,
it reinforcesthe equation of AIDS and homosexuality,neglectingeven to men-
tion the possibilitythat an artist,like anyone else, mightacquire AIDS hetero-
sexuallyor throughshared needles when shootingdrugs. Secondly, it suggests
that gay people have a natural inclinationtoward the arts,the homophobic flip
side of whichis the notion that "homosexuals controlthe arts" (ideas perfectly
parallel withanti-Semiticattitudesthat see Jews as, on the one hand, "making
special contributionsto culture," and, on the other, "controllingcapital"). But
most perniciousof all, it impliesthat gay people "redeem" themselvesby being
artists,and thereforethat the deaths of other gay people are less tragic.4The
message is that art, because it is timelessand universal,transcendsindividual
lives,whichare time-boundand contingent.
Entirelyabsent from the news report (and the Horizon article) was any
mention of activistresponses to AIDS by cultural producers. The focus was
instead on the dramaticeffectof the epidemic upon the art world, the coping
with illnessand death. Extended interviewswith choreographersBill T. Jones
and his lover Arnie Zane, who has been diagnosed withAIDS, emphasized the
"human face" of the disease in a waythatwas farmore palatable than is usual in
broadcasttelevision,simplybecause itallowed the positiveself-representations of
both a person withAIDS and a gay relationship.Asked whetherhe thought"the

2. David Kaufman,"AIDS: The Creative Response," Horizon,vol. 30, no. 9 (November 1987),
pp. 13-20.
3. Denneny is the editor of Randy Shilts'sAnd theBand PlayedOn, a discussionof whichappears
in my essay "How to Have Promiscuityin an Epidemic," pp. 237-271.
4. Redemption,of course, necessitatesa prior sin-the sin of homosexuality,of promiscuity,of
drug use-and thusa programsuch as "AIDS in the Arts" contributesto the media's distributionof
innocence and guilt according to who you are and how you acquired AIDS. Promiscuousgay men
and IV drug users are unquestionablyguiltyin this construction,but so are all people frompoor
minoritypopulations.The special attentionpaid to artistsand other celebritieswithAIDS is never-
thelesscontradictory.While a TV programsuch as "Aids in the Arts" virtuallybeatifiesthe stricken
artist,for personalitiessuch as Rock Hudson and Liberace the scandal of being found guiltyof
homosexualitytarnishesthe halo of theircelebritystatus.

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AIDS: CulturalAnalysis/
CulturalActivism 5

artsare particularlyhit by AIDS," Zane replied, "That's the controversialques-

tion this month,right?"but then went on to say, "Of course I do. I am in the
center of this world, the art world. ... I am losing my colleagues." Colleen
Dewhurst, president of Actors Equity, suggested rather that "AIDS-related
deaths are not more common among artists,only more visible,"and continued,
"Artistsare supposed to representthe human condition . . ." (a conditionthat
is, of course, assumed to be universal).
"Art liveson forever"- thisidealistplatitudecame fromElizabethTaylor,
National Chairman of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, shown
addressingthe star-studdedcrowdat the gala to kickoff"Art againstAIDS." But
strangelyit was Richard Goldstein,writerfor the VillageVoiceand a committed
activiston the subjectof AIDS, who contributedthe broadcast'smostunabashed
statementof faithin art's transcendenceof life: "In an ironicsense, I thinkthat
AIDS is good for art. I thinkit will produce great works that will outlast and
transcendthe epidemic."
It would appear from such a statementthat what is at stake is not the
survivalof people withAIDS and those who mightnow be or eventuallybecome
infectedwith HIV, but rather the survival,even the flourishing,of art. For
Goldstein,thisis surelyless a questionof hopelesslyconfusedpriorities,however,
thanof a failureto recognizethe alternativesto thisdesirefortranscendence- a
failuredeterminedby the intractability of the traditionalidealistconception of
art, which entirelydivorces art fromengagementin lived social life.
Writingin the catalogue of "Art againstAIDS," Robert Rosenblumaffirms
this limitedand limitingview of art and the passivityit entails:
By now, in the 1980s, we are all disenchantedenough to knowthatno
workof art,howevermuch it mayfortify the spiritor nourishthe eye
and mind,has the slightestpower to save a life. Only science can do
that.But we also know thatart does not existin an ivorytower,thatit
is made and valued by human beings who live and die, and thatit can
generate a passionate abundance of solidarity,love, intelligence,and
most important,money.5
There could hardlybe a clearer declaration of the contradictionsinherentin
aestheticidealism than one which blandlyaccepts art's inabilityto intervenein
the social and simultaneouslypraises its commodityvalue. To recognize thisas
contradictoryis not, however,to object to exploitingthat commodityvalue for
the purpose of fundraisingfor AIDS research and service. Given the failureof
governmentat every level to provide the funding necessary to combat the
epidemic,such effortsas "Art against AIDS" have been necessary,even crucial
to our survival.I want, nevertheless,to make three caveats.

5. Robert Rosenblum,"Life Versus Death: The Art World in Crisis," in ArtagainstAIDS, New
York, American Foundation for AIDS Research, 1987, p. 32.

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6 CRIMP

and
1. Scientificresearch,health care, and education are the responsibility
of
purpose government and not of so-called an
"private initiative," ideological
termthat excuses and perpetuatesthe state's irresponsibility.Therefore, every
ventureof thisnatureshould make clear thatit is necessitatedstrictlybecause of
criminalnegligence on the part of government.What we find,however,is the
veryopposite:
Confrontinga man-madeevil like the war in Vietnam,we could assail
a governmentand the people in charge. But how do we confronta
diabolicallyprotean virus that has been killingfirstthose pariahs of
grass-rootsAmerica, homosexuals and drug addicts, and has then
gone on to kill, with far less moral discrimination,even women,
children,and heterosexualmen?We have recourseonlyto love and to
science, which is what ArtagainstAIDS is all about.6
2. Blind faithin science,as if it were entirelyneutraland uncontaminated
by politics,is naive and dangerous. It must be the responsibilityof everyone
contributingto fundraisersto know enough about AIDS to determinewhether
the beneficiarywillput the moneyto the best possibleuse. How manyartistsand
dealers contributingto "Art against AIDS," for example, know preciselywhat
kindsof scientificresearchare supportedby the AmericanFoundation forAIDS
Research?How manyknow the alternativesto AmFAR's researchagenda, alter-
natives such as the CommunityResearch Initiative,an effortat testingAIDS
treatmentsinitiatedat the communitylevel by PWAs themselves?As anyone
involved in the struggleagainst AIDS knows fromhorrendousexperience, we
cannot affordto leave anythingup to the "experts." We mustbecome our own
experts.7
3. Raising money is the most passive response of culturalpractitionersto
social crisis,a response that perpetuates the idea that art itselfhas no social
function(aside from being a commodity),that there is no such thing as an
engaged, activistaestheticpractice.It is thisthirdpointthatI wantto underscore

6. Ibid., p. 28. I hope we can assume that Rosenblum intendshis remarksabout "pariahs" and
"moral discrimination"ironically,although this is hardly what I would call politicallysensitive
writing.It could easilybe read withoutirony,since it so faithfullyreproduces what is writtenin the
press virtuallyevery day. And the implicationof the "even women" in the categorydistinctfrom
"homosexuals" is, once again, that there's no such thingas a lesbian. But can we expect political
sensitivityfromsomeone who cannot see thatAIDS is political?thatscienceis political?It was science,
afterall, thatconceptualizedAIDS as a gay disease-and wasted precious timescrutinizingour sex
lives,theorizingabout killersperm,and givingmegadoses of poppers to mice at the CDC-all the
whiletakinglittlenoticeof the otherswho were dyingof AIDS, and thusallowingHIV to be injected
into the veinsof vastnumbersof IV drug users,as well as of hemophiliacsand otherpeople requiring
blood transfusions.
7. I do not wish to cast suspicionon AmFAR, but ratherto suggestthat no organizationcan be
seen as neutralor objective.See, in thisregard,the exchange of letterson AmFAR's rejectionof the
CommunityResearch Initiative'sfundingapplicationsin the PWA CoalitionNewsline,no. 30 (January
1988), pp. 3-7.

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AIDS: CulturalAnalysis/
CulturalActivism 7

by insisting,againstRosenblum,thatart doeshave the power to save lives,and it

is thisverypower thatmustbe recognized,fostered,and supportedin everyway
possible. But ifwe are to do this,we willhave to abandon the idealistconception
of art. We don't need a culturalrenaissance;we need culturalpracticesactively
participatingin the struggleagainst AIDS. We don't need to transcend the
epidemic; we need to end it.
What might such a cultural practice be? One example appeared in No-
vember 1987 in the window on Broadway of New York's New Museum of
ContemporaryArt. EntitledLet theRecordShow . . . , it is the collectiveworkof
ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), which is-I repeat what is
statedat the beginningof everyMonday nightmeeting-"a nonpartisangroup
of diverseindividualsunited in anger and committedto directaction to end the
AIDS crisis." More precisely,Let theRecordShow . . . is the work of an ad hoc
committeewithinACT UP thatresponded to the New Museum's offerto do the
window installation.The offerwas tendered by Curator Bill Olander, himselfa
participantin ACT UP.
I firstbecame aware of ACT UP, like manyotherNew Yorkers,when
I saw a poster appear on lower Broadway with the equation:
SILENCE=DEATH. Accompanyingthese words, sited on a black
background, was a pink triangle-the symbolof homosexual perse-
cutionduringthe Nazi period and, sincethe 1960s, the emblemof gay
liberation.For anyone conversantwiththisiconography,therewas no
question that this was a poster designed to provoke and heighten
awareness of the AIDS crisis. To me, it was more than that: it was
among the mostsignificantworksof art thathad yetbeen done which
was inspiredand produced withinthe arms of the crisis.8

That symbol,made of neon, occupied the curved portionof the New Museum's
arched window.Below it,in the background,and bathed in soft,even light,was a
photomuralof the NurembergTrials (in addition to prosecutingNazi war crimi-
nals, those trialsestablishedour present-daycode of medical ethics, involving
such thingsas informedconsentto experimentalmedical procedures).In frontof
thisgiantphoto are six life-size,silhouettedphotographsof "AIDS criminals"in
separate,boxed-inspaces, and below each one the wordsby whichhe or she may
be judged by history,cast- literally-in concrete. As the lightgoes on in each
of these separate boxed spaces, we can see the face and read the words:

8. Bill Olander, "The Window on Broadway by ACT UP," in On View(handout), New York,
New Museum of ContemporaryArt, 1987, p. 1. The logo that Olander describesis not the workof
ACT UP, but of a designcollectivecalled the SILENCE=DEATH Project,whichhas lentthe logo to
ACT UP.

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 ACT UP. Let the Record Show . . . (detail). 1987.
(Photo:TomKalin.)

The logical outcome of testingis a quarantine of those infected.

-Jesse Helms, US Senator

It is patrioticto have the AIDS testand be negative.

-Cory Servaas, PresidentialAIDS Commission

We used to hate faggotson an emotional basis. Now we have a good

reason.
anonymous surgeon

AIDS is God's judgment of a societythat does not live by His rules.

-Jerry Falwell, televangelist

Everyone detected withAIDS should be tattooed in the upper fore-

arm, to protectcommon needle users,and on the buttocksto prevent
the victimizationof other homosexuals.
-William F. Buckley,columnist

And finally,there is a blank slab of concrete, above which is the silhouetted

photographof PresidentReagan. We look up fromthisblank slab and see, once
again, the neon sign: SILENCE=DEATH.
But there is more. Suspended above this rogues' gallery is an electronic
informationdisplayprogrammedwitha runningtext,portionsof whichread as
follows:
Let the record show . . . William F. Buckley deflects criticism of the
government'sslow responseto the epidemicthroughcalculations:"At
most three years were lost . . . Those three years have killed approx-
imately15,000 people; ifwe are talking50 milliondead, thenthe cost
of delay is not heavy . . .
Let the record show . . . The Pentagon spends in one day more than
the governmentspent in the last five years for AIDS research and
education . . .
Let the record show . . . InJune 1986, $47 million was allocated for
new drug trialsto include 10,000 people withAIDS. One year later
only 1,000 people are currentlyenrolled. In that time, over 9,000
Americanshave died of AIDS.
Let the record show . . . In 1986, Dr. Cory Servaas, editor of the
SaturdayEvening Post, announced that after working closely with
the National Institutesof Health, she had found a cure forAIDS. At
the time,the National Institutesof Health officialssaid that theyhad
never heard of Dr. Cory Servaas. In 1987, President Reagan ap-
pointed Dr. Cory Servaas to the PresidentialAIDS Commission.

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ACT UP. Let the Record Show . . . 1987.
(Photo:RobinHolland.)

Let the record show . . . In October of 1986, $80 millionwas allo-

cated for public education about AIDS. 13 monthslater there is still
no national education program. In that time,over 15,000 new cases
have been reported.
Let the record show . . . 54% of the people withAIDS in New York
Cityare black and Hispanic. The incidenceof heterosexuallytransmit-
ted AIDS is 17 times higher among blacks than whites, 15 times
higher among Hispanics than whites. 88% of babies with AIDS are
black and Hispanic. 6% of the US AIDS education budget has been
targetedfor the minoritycommunity.

And finally:
By Thanksgiving 1981, 244 known dead . . . AIDS . . . no word
fromthe President.
By Thanksgiving1982, 1,123 knowndead . . . AIDS . . . no word
fromthe President.
The text continues like this, always with no word from the President, until
finally:
By Thanksgiving 1987, 25,644 known dead . . . AIDS . . . Presi-
dent Reagan: "I have asked the Departmentof Health and Human
Servicesto determineas soon as possiblethe extentto whichthe AIDS
virus has penetratedour society."

Aftereach of these bits of information,the sign flashes,"Act Up, Fight Back,

Fight AIDS," a standard slogan at ACT UP demonstrations.Documentary
footagefromsome of thesedemonstrationscould be seen in the videotape Testing
theLimits:New York,programmedat the New Museum simultaneouslywiththe
windowdisplay.The video about AIDS activismin New York Cityis the workof
a collective (also called Testing the Limits) "formed to document emerging
formsof activismarisingout of people's responsesto governmentinactionin the
global AIDS epidemic."
The SILENCE=DEATH Project,the group fromACT UP who made Let
theRecordShow . . . , and Testing the Limitsshare importantpremisesthatcan
teach us much about engaged art practices. First,theyare collective endeavors.
Second, these practicesare employedby the collectives'membersas an essential
part of theirAIDS activism.This is not to say that the individualsinvolvedare
not artistsin the more conventionalsense of the word; many of these people
work withinthe precinctsof the traditionalart world and its institutions.But
involvementin the AIDS crisishas not lefttheirrelationto thatworld unaltered.
AftermakingLet theRecordShow . . . for the New Museum, for example, the
group fromACT UP reconvened and decided to continue theirwork. Among

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12 CRIMP

the general principlesdiscussed at their firstmeeting, one was unanimously

voiced: "We have to get out of Soho, get out of the art world."
The New Museum has been more hospitablethan most art institutionsto
sociallyand politicallycommittedart practices,and it was verycourageous of the
museumto offerspace to an activistorganizationratherthanto an artist.It is also
veryusefulthatthe museum has a windowon lower Broadway thatis passed by
manypeople who would never set foot in an art museum. But ifwe thinkabout
art in relation to the AIDS epidemic-in relation,that is, to the communities
mostdrasticallyaffectedby AIDS, especiallythe poor and minoritycommunities
where AIDS is spreading much fasterthan elsewhere-we will realize that no
workmade withinthe confinesof the art world as it is currentlyconstitutedwill
reach these people. Activistart thereforeinvolves questions not only of the
nature of culturalproduction,but also of the location,or the means of distribu-
tion, of that production. Let theRecordShow . . . was made for an art-world
location,and it appears to have been made largelyforan art-worldaudience. By
providinginformationabout governmentinactionand repressiveintentionsin
the context of shocking statistics,its purpose is to inform-and thereby to
mobilize-its presumablysophisticatedaudience (an audience presumed, for
example, to be able to recognize a photographof the NurembergTrials).9 Such
informationand mobilizationcan (contra Rosenblum) save lives; indeed, untila
cure for AIDS is developed, onlyinformationand mobilizationcan save lives.
In New York City,virtuallyeveryofficialcampaign of highlyvisiblepublic
informationabout AIDS-whether AIDS education in schools, public service
announcementson TV, or postersin the subways-must meet withthe approval
of, among others, the immenselypowerful and reactionaryCardinal John J.
O'Connor. This has resultedin a murderousregime of silence and disinforma-
tion that virtuallyguarantees the mounting deaths of sexually active young
people - gay and straight--and of IV drug users,theirsex partners,and their
children,mostof themfrompoor, minoritypopulations.Recognizingthis,small
coalitionsof culturalworkers,includinga group calling itselfthe Metropolitan
Health Association and the ACT UP committee that created Let the Record
Show . . . , have takento the streetsand subwaysto mounteducation campaigns
of theirown. Employingsophisticatedgraphicsand explicitinformation, printed
in English and Spanish, these artistsand activistsare attemptingto get the
unambiguousword out about how safe sex and clean workscan protectpeople
fromcontractingHIV. Even apart fromthe possibilityof arrest,the difficulties
faced by these people are daunting.Their workdemands a total reevaluationof
the nature and purpose of culturalpracticesin conjunctionwithan understand-

9. Whetheror not the audience was also presumedto be able to see a connectionbetweenLet the
RecordShow . . . and the proceduresand devices of artistssuch as Hans Haacke, JennyHolzer, and
Barbara Kruger is an open question.

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 MetropolitanHealthAssociation.Clean works
informationforNew YorkCitysubways.1988.
(Photo:Diane Neumaier.)

ing of the politicalgoals of AIDS activism.It requires,in addition,a comprehen-

sive knowledgeof routesof HIV transmission and means of prevention,as wellas
a sensitivityto culturalspecificity-to, say,the streetlanguage of Puerto Ricans
as opposed to that of Spanish-speakingimmigrantsfrom Central or South
America.
Even havingadopted new prioritiesand accumulated new formsof knowl-
edge, the task of culturalproducers workingwithinthe struggleagainst AIDS
will be difficult.The ignorance and confusionenforcedby governmentand the
dominantmedia; the disenfranchisement and immiserationof manyof the peo-
ple thus far hardesthit by AIDS; and the psychicresistenceto confrontingsex,
disease, and death in a societywhere those subjects are largelytaboo-all of
theseconditionsmustbe faced byanyone doing workon AIDS. Culturalactivism
is only now beginning;also just beginningis the recognitionand supportof this
work by art-worldinstitutions.
Among those institutions, apart fromthe New Museum, I want to mention
and credittwo. Due to momentumgatheringamong studentsand facultyat the
California Instituteof the Arts in the previous year, the school developed a
programof AIDS-related activitiesfor 1987-88. These included a course enti-
tled "Media(ted) AIDS" givenbyJan Zita Groverand open to the entirestudent

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14 CRIMP

body; an agreementby the facultyto spend one-tenthof the overall budget for
visitingartistsand lecturerson presentationsabout AIDS-related work; a com-
mitmentby the libraryto spend one-quarterof its video acquisitionbudget on
tapes about AIDS; and the inclusionof AIDS informationin the monthlystudent
newsletter(this informationwas also regularlysilkscreenedonto the school's
walls). The value of such a coordinatedprogramis thatstudentscan both receive
(but also generate) informationthat can help them personally and begin to
reconsidertheirroles as artistsworkingin a momentof social crisis.
To date, a majorityof culturalproducers workingin the struggleagainst
AIDS have used the video medium.There are a numberof explanationsforthis:
Much of the dominantdiscourseon AIDS has been conveyedthroughtelevision,
and thisdiscoursehas generateda criticalcounter-practicein the same medium;
video can sustaina fairlycomplex arrayof information;and cable access and the
widespreaduse of VCRs providethe potentialof a large audience forthiswork.'0
In October 1987, the American Film InstituteVideo Festivalincluded a series
entitled"Only Human: Sex, Gender, and Other Misrepresentations,"organized
by Bill Horrigan and B. Ruby Rich. Of eight programsin the series,three were
devoted to videotapes on AIDS. Among the more than twentyvideos, a full
range of independentworkwas represented,includingtapes made forbroadcast
TV (AIDS in theArts),AIDS education tapes (Sex, Drugs,and AIDS, made forthe
New York Cityschool system),and "art" tapes (NewsfromHome,by Tom Kalin
and Stathis Lagoudakis); music videos (The ADS Epidemic,by John Greyson),
documentaries(TestingtheLimits),and critiquesof the media (A Plague on You,
by the Lesbian and Gay Media Group). The intentionof the programwas not to
select work on the basis of aestheticmerit,but ratherto show somethingof the
range of representationsand counter-representations of AIDS. As B. Ruby Rich
stated it in the catalogue:
To speak of sexualityand the body,and not also speak of AIDS, would
be, well, obscene. At the same time, the peculiarly key role being
played by the media in this scenario makes it urgent that counter-
images and counter-rhetoric be created and articulated.To thisend,
we have grouped the AIDS tapes togetherin threespecial programsto
allow the dynamicof theirinteractionto produce itsown discourse-
and to allow the inveterate viewer to begin making the aesthetic
diagnosisthat is quicklybecoming everybit as urgentas (particularly
in the absence of) the medical one.11

10. For a good overviewof both commercialtelevisionand independentvideo productionsabout

AIDS, see TimothyLanders, "Bodies and Anti-Bodies:A Crisisin Representation,"TheIndependent,
vol. 11, no. 1 (January-February1988), pp. 18-24.
11. B. Ruby Rich, "Only Human: Sex, Gender, and Other Misrepresentations,"in 1987 American
Film InstituteVideoFestival,Los Angeles, 1987, p. 42.

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AIDS: CulturalAnalysisI CulturalActivism 15

The preparationof thisOCTOBER publicationon AIDS stemmedinitially

from my encounters with several works both in and about the media: Simon
Watney's book PolicingDesire: AIDS, Pornography, and theMedia; Stuart Mar-
shall's video BrightEyes,made for Britain's Channel 4; and the documentary
about AIDS activismin New York, TestingtheLimits.In addition,I learned that
Amber Hollibaugh, of the AIDS DiscriminationUnit of the New York City
Commissionon Human Rights,was at workon The SecondEpidemic,a documen-
taryabout AIDS-related discrimination.From the beginningmyintentionwas to
show, throughdiscussionof these works,that there was a critical,theoretical,
activistalternativeto the personal,elegiac expressionsthatappeared to dominate
the art-worldresponse to AIDS. What seemed to me essential was a vastly
expanded view of culture in relation to crisis.But the full extent to which this
view would have to be expanded onlybecame clear throughfurtherengagement
withthe issues. AIDS intersectswithand requires a criticalrethinkingof all of
culture:of language and representation,of science and medicine,of health and
illness,of sex and death, of the public and privaterealms.AIDS is a centralissue
for gay men, of course, but also for lesbians. AIDS is an issue for women
generally,but especiallyforpoor and minoritywomen,forchild-bearingwomen,
forwomen workingin the healthcare system.AIDS is an issue fordrug users,for
prisoners,for sex workers.At some point, even "ordinary" heterosexual men
will have to learn that AIDS is an issue for them,and not simplybecause they
mightbe susceptibleto "contagion."
The unevennesswith which these questions are addressed in this publica-
tion, the prioritygiven to gay issues (and to gay writers),reflects,in part, the
historyof organized response to AIDS in the US. Gay men and lesbiansjoined
the strugglefirstand are stillon its frontlines. The unevennessis compensated,
however, by the involvementof these people (and, increasingly,of straight
women) in all the issues raised by AIDS, a developmentthat is reflectedin the
work published here. (A gay friendabout to embark on a poster campaign-
usingthe recentlyreleased statisticthatone in sixty-onebabies born in New York
City are HIV positive-spoke of the irony of a bunch of faggots tryingto
educate heterosexualsabout safe sex practices.)'2 But there are lacunae that I
regret,the most importantof which is attentionto the cataclysmicproblem of
AIDS in the Third World, a problem about which one hears only a deafening
silence in the dominantmedia in the US.

12. An even more profoundironyis the factthatoftenonly gay people are willingto act as foster
parents for HIV-positive children,and at a time when gay parentingis increasinglycoming under
attackby both federal and state governments.A special commissionof the Reagan Administration
has recommendedagainst lesbiansand gay men as potential fosterparents,and several stateshave
passed laws explicitlyforbiddinggay people to adopt children. In addition, gay parents are often
refusedcustodyof theirnatural childrensolely on the grounds of sexual orientation.

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16 CRIMP

It has taken the work of manypeople to make thispublicationwhat it is. I

want to thank all of the contributors,both those who turned their attentions
fromusual concernsto thinkand writeabout AIDS and thoseactivistswho found
the extra timeand energyto writeforan academic publication.The People with
AIDS Coalition in New York generouslyput the fullrun of theirNewslineat my
disposal and granted me a free hand in makingselectionsfromit. Information,
leads, and illustrationalmaterialswere provided by the Gay Men's Health Crisis,
Jan Zita Grover,Isaac Julien,Tom Kalin, Diane Neumaier,JimSteakley,Frank
Wagner, and Michael Wessmann; and Terri Cafaro, Joan Copjec, and Cathy
Scott helped withvarious aspects of production.
My own education about AIDS was made considerablyeasier by the agree-
ment of membersof my reading group to spend several monthsdiscussingthe
subject and looking at videotapes, and I thereforewant to acknowledge the
participationof Terri Cafaro, Carlos Espinosa, Martha Gever, TimothyLanders,
Eileen O'Neill, and our short-termguests Lee Quinby and Jane Rubin. Attend-
ance at the regular Monday night meetings of ACT UP provided me with
up-to-the-minute informationand helped clarifymany issues. Finally,I want to
acknowledge the sustainedinvolvementof Gregg Bordowitz,who has helped in
countlessways.

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