AIDS misconceptions and conspiracy theories

Because the worldwide spread of AIDS has had such a tragic effect on
millions of people world wide, a number of misconceptions and conspiracy
theories have appeared as a way of people to lay blame on someone else for
the problem.

Misconceptions

In some parts of Africa, an urban legend stating that having sexual
intercourse with a virgin will cure AIDS has gained considerable notoriety.
This myth has been seen at the center of certain recent stories involving
sexual abuse and child rape. Not only does this not cure the abuser, it
often infects their victim with HIV, leading to their developing and dying
from AIDS, and spreading HIV still further into the population.

A misconception holds that one person introduced HIV to North America. For
information on this belief, see Patient Zero.

During the early 1980s, the disease's disproportionate occurrence within the
gay community has led some Christian fundamentalists to brand AIDS the 'gay
plague', a device used by God to show his "displeasure" with homosexual
behaviour. This view was based upon a Biblical interpretation stating that
homosexuality is a sin. Conservative religious spokespersons such as Jerry
Falwell touched off considerable controversy when they described AIDS as
God's way of "punishing" homosexuals. Opponents pointed out that, if this
was true, hemophilia was a sin and God loved lesbians (who had a lower
incidence of AIDS than either gay men or heterosexuals of either sex).

Conspiracy Theories

A number of conspiracy theorists have suggested that AIDS is actually a
man-made disease. In spite of scientific evidence of the disease's
appearances as early as the first half of the 20th century, the theory still
persists in some areas that AIDS was created for military purposes. These
theories usually state that the disease was meant to deliberately wipe out a
certain segment of the population in an act of genocide.

Descriptions needed:

   * Many African-Americans in the US believe that HIV, the virus that
     causes AIDS, was invented by either white American scientists, or by
     "The Jews", as a way to destroy the black race. This conspiracy theory
     is most common among lower-income blacks in poor neighborhoods, and
     among putative left-wing black college students. These racist and
     anti-Semitic attacks have been propagated for years, first by Louis
     Farrakhan's Nation of Islam, and by the New Black Panther Party, as
     well by a number of extremist professors in various smaller colleges.

   * Prof. Dr. Jakob Segal

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