Making Women Visible through Health Communication: Representations of Gender in AIDS PSAs

Abstract

Research has shown that, for HIV prevention communication to be effective, educators must depict target populations in positive, empowering ways that will encourage safe, healthy behavior. While women are increasingly visible in health communication about HIV/AIDS—and in research about that communication—no exhaustive study exists on the representations of women in one of the country's most widely distributed HIV messages, the Centers for Disease Control's AIDS public service announcements. Using textual analysis, this study identifies how women have been and are being depicted in these prevention messages. The results suggest that, through initial discursive strategies, women were represented as guilty for the transmission of HIV and primarily responsible for education and prevention; additionally, women were depicted in ways that decontextualized their cultural, interpersonal, and sexual experiences with men. While recent PSAs offer more empowering representations of women, certain disempowering strategies remain. Based on these findings, recommendations are made for the focus of future prevention messages.