AIDS, Communication, and Empowerment examines the cultural construction of gay men in light of discourse used in the media's messages about HIV/AIDS messages often represented as educational, scientific, and informational but which are, in fact, politically charged. The book offers a compelling and substantive look at the social consequences of communication about HIV/AIDS and the reasons for the successes and failures of contemporary health communication. This analysis is important because it provides a reading of health communication from a marginal perspective, one that has often been kept silent in mainstream academic research.

Roger Myrick

Introduction

• The Construction of the Homosexual as Subject According to Michel Foucault
• Recent Histories of Sexuality and Their Relevance for Gay Identity
• Contemporary Cultural Analysis of Constructions of Gay Identity in Representations of AIDS
• The Cultural Construction of General Public in a National Public Service Announcement Health Campaign
• The Cultural Construction of Marginal Identity in Community-Based AIDS/HIV Education
• Conclusion
• Appendixes
• References
• Index