Overview
Since the mid-1980s, Simon Watney has been one of the leading voices in the international field of HIV/AIDS education. His monthly column on AIDS in Britain's Gay Times is the longest-running column of its kind in Europe, and he is actively involved in HIV/AIDS issues in the United States. His work constitutes a unique dialogue between European and American perspectives on the epidemic. Practices of Freedom brings together for the first time Watney's pioneering writings on topics ranging from gay men's Safer Sex education to racist coverage of AIDS in Africa in the international media, from the ethics of clinical drug trials to governmental policies concerning AIDS. Watney's voice-neither neutral nor detached-is that of an active and influential participant in the fight against AIDS. He offers a unique view of the ways in which gay men working in community-based organizations have attempted to provide reliable and up-to-date services and information regarding AIDS treatment and health. A leader in insisting on gay men's entitlements to education, care, and services, Watney was among the first to challenge the ""de-gaying"" of AIDS service organizations in the late eighties. He also devotes his attention to HIV/AIDS prevention work, research and treatment issues, and the wider cultural politics of the disease, including the role of language, television, and cinema. His analysis of the epidemic as it has unfolded provides a history of many of the major medical and political debates that have defined the course and extent of the crisis. Practices of Freedom demonstrates the failure of national institutions, from the government to the press, to understand and effectively fight this epidemic, and directs attention to the most urgent needs in American and international AIDS work. It will be an important primary resource, particularly in the United States, where effective community-based HIV/AIDS education tragically has often been neglected.
Full Product Details
Author: Simon Watney
Publisher: Duke University Press
Imprint: Duke University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 22.90cm
, Height: 2.80cm
, Length: 15.20cm
Weight: 0.735kg
ISBN: 9780822315537
ISBN 10: 082231553
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 12 October 1994
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
The release of Watney's latest book . . . is cause for careful assessment of the current discourse on HIV/AIDS. All of the essays are written from the author's perspective as a committed AIDS activist, and thus have the ring of impassioned indignation that only someone deeply immersed within the politics surrounding the epidemic could muster. <br>--David McCarthy, New Art Examiner
Author Information
Simon Watney is Director of the Red Hot AIDS Charitable Trust in the U. K., a funding initiative for community-based HIV prevention work. He is the author of several books, including Policing Desire: Pornography, AIDS, and the Media, and coeditor of Taking Liberties: AIDS and Cultural Politics. He has published more than 250 articles on HIV/AIDS, and his work has appeared in October, the Village Voice, High Performance, Screen, and Artforum, among other publications.
