NCJ Number
121092
Journal
Social Justice Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1989) Pages: 158-166
Date Published
1989
Length
9 pages
Annotation
AIDS is not merely a medical or sociolegal problem, but carries a powerful set of social meanings.
Abstract
The first case of AIDS in Australia was reported in 1982. Since then, according to the National Health and Medical Research Council, as of April 1989, the cumulative, national total of Australian AIDS cases has reached 1,301 and the number of deaths totals 625. As in other western countries, AIDS in Australia has predominantly occurred to date among men infected via homosexual transmission. Nonetheless, the governmental response to AIDS, at least at the Federal level, has been noticeably faster and more rational than in other English-speaking societies. One area where Australia can reasonably claim to be on par with any other country has been the acceptance of the need to involve affected populations in AIDS decisionmaking. The AIDS issue taps into a highly charged, traditional, and entrenched belief system about disease, sexual control, and homosexuality. The AIDS epidemic raises central questions for any project of social justice. Just because most of these questions do not primarily relate to the allocation of resources and involve groups whose very existence challenges the hegemony of traditional morality, AIDS policies demand an expansion of the boundaries within which the discourse of social justice takes place. 6 notes, 17 references.