Destabilizing Science From the Right: The Rhetoric of Heterosexual Victimhood in the World Health Organization's 2008 HIV/AIDS Controversy

Abstract

This article examines the 2008 World Health Organization/Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS controversy through original reports and media coverage. Analysis reveals that discourse rhetorically exonerates heterosexuals from HIV/AIDS while reifying homophobic and morally righteous ideology about HIV/AIDS and homosexuality. Discourses of “fraudulent science,” “heterosexual absence,” and reverse victimization destabilize meaning of HIV/AIDS and heterosexuality. “AIDS,” “heterosexuality,” and even victimhood and minority status were destabilized and resignified in a rhetoric that benefited from its status as science even as it rendered past science suspect as ideological.

Keywords:

• floating signifier
• heteronormativity
• HIV/AIDS
• science discourse
• victimhood

Notes

This article is derived from Ashley Noel Mack's master's thesis. She is forever indebted to Dr. Dana L. Cloud, Dr. Barry Brummett, and Dr. Bryan McCann for their support and guidance.

1. My multifaceted approached is initially anchored in over 20 news articles and editorials reporting the WHO admission from global news publications including: The Independent, The Times of London, The New Zealand Herald, The Dallas Morning News, FoxNews.com, Marie Claire magazine, The Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The Indian, The Straight Times of Singapore, Lancet, and Africa News. I also purposefully include niche publications such as Positive Nation, POZ magazine, LifeSiteNews.com, and the Guerilla News Network because they speak directly to issues not covered in traditional news outlets.