Images of AIDS among teenagers and young adults

This study analyzed images of AIDS and HIV-1 seropositivity among young people. The method employed is content analysis of 307 screen plays written by participants aged 15-25 as part of a competition organized by Médecins du Monde, APS, CRIPS. The participants were instructed to write a screen play for a 13-minute film on the theme of "Living in the city with HIV". In most stories, the seropositive hero was a young male or female heterosexual. Only a few scenarios involved drug abusers or homosexuals. Despite the absence of evidence of stigmatizating attitudes, HIV infection is often seen as a punitive consequence of a promiscuous sexual lifestyle. The announcement of seropositivity is perceived as a violent break with everyday life associated with introspection, and rejection of close friends and family. To cope with such a dramatic situation, the subject has to undergo a violent crisis. Life as portrayed in the scenarios is similar to life for people with HIV as it appears in personal testimonies. The majority of storylines concerning young heterosexuals show that participants understood that anybody can be affected by AIDS. There was no division into risk groups and the tolerant positions adopted demonstrate the impact of the associative movement and of information campaigns in France. However, the recurrence of the notion of 'illness as punishment' indicates that much work remains if AIDS is to be dissociated from moral connotations.