Trapped in a Woman’s Body? The Persistence of Feminine Pathology in Biomedical Discourse around HIV/AIDS

Abstract

In the Scientific American of October 1988, an issue entirely devoted to the question of HIV/AIDS, an article entitled ‘HIV Infection: The Cellular Picture’ was accompanied by a diagram purporting to show the distribution of tissues in the body that can be infected with HIV. A superficial look at the diagram would present nothing problematic. A skinless body is shown with the affected viscera highlighted and surrounded by microscopic representations of the impact of HIV on the tissues. A more than cursory glance, however, would indicate something more curious, that is, that this anatomically correct male body has lymphocytes found in his blood, semen and vaginal fluid.