Due to the fact that “AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Activism” by Douglas Crimp was written before I was born, I am going to attempt to relate my current knowledge of AIDS in today’s time period to the AIDS epidemic in the eighties. Even in current times it seems that people still stereotype when they hear the word “AIDS”. Automatically, homosexuality springs into their mind. I am basing this opinion on an incident from my sociology class when the topic of AIDS was discussed. We were learning about the statistical data, in particular the percentages of different racial categories with AIDS. Which Crimp also mentions in his writing, showing the copy on a poster saying “54% of the people with AIDS in New York City are black and Hispanic” (Kocur, Leung 146). However, despite the fact that the class was talking about racial statistics, someone brought up the question of the percentage of people with AIDS being higher for homosexuals. Proving the point that people still, in 2010, stereotypically think that AIDS relates most closely to homosexuality and its practices. According to the Crimp, PBS’s program “McNeilLehrer Newshour” discussed the issue of AIDS in a way that was pushing the stereotype of homosexuality and AIDS into the public’s mind. Crimp says, “it reinforces the equation of AIDS and homosexuality, neglecting even to mention the possibility that an artist, like anyone else might contract AIDS heterosexually or by sharing needles when shooting drugs” (Kocur, Leung 142). Clearly there has not been a colossal change in awareness since the eighties if today’s generation is in the same mindset as the people were twenty to thirty years ago. Putting stereotype aside, neglect and denial are also words that come to mind when discussing AIDS in the eighties.

Just as much as people wanted to escape or avoid AIDS physically, they also wanted to avoid the issue mentally. Crimp describes this beautifully by giving the examples of the “ACT UP” posters pointing out that there has been “no word from the president” (Kocur, Leung 146). If the president of the United States was avoiding the issue, I don’t see the rest of the world jumping for awareness on an issue that no one could handle mentally. Which is why the art of the ACT UP posters were brilliant. They were factual and in your face; a scare tactic that it seems the public needed. The distribution of the subway posters seems to have been a more successful way of informing in comparison to the “Let the Record Show…” installation piece presented in the New Museum window. Even though the installation was viewable to the everyday person walking by, it was still targeting a more specific audience, whereas the posters were viewed and understandable to average person in the subway. However, in agreeance with Crimp, I believe that any form of art expressing information and awareness of the issue on AIDS will and can help save lives.