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In SF's Tenderloin...
.... a racially-worded poster accuses a woman of spreading AIDS by doing fellatio.
An open letter to SF's queer, left, and HIV communities:
Imagine you're walking thru San Francisco's Tenderloin district, the "home of the homeless", in November 2004.
You see many large posters claiming that one particular HIV-positive woman is infecting many men, by performing fellatio.
If you've read about HIV transmission, you may think this route of infection (from mouth to penis) is less common than its opposite route (from penis to mouth).
If you've read about sexwork, you may think that men should wear condoms when having sex with prostitutes (or any stranger); and that those men who refuse to wear condoms are willfully endangering themselves and all of their partners (including spouses).
In addition to ignorance about health, these posters also exhibit racial bias, in my queer opinion (IMQO).
If these posters were to denounce a black person for allegedly infecting white persons, you'd soon hear outrage from liberals and leftists of all colors. Would they tear the posters down to make a bonfire?
But I've not heard of any protest (yet?), perhaps because the prejudice flows in a different direction.
Here's the actual text, which shouts, alas, in all-caps:
WHITE WOMAN.
SCARLET
.................................
IS GIVING
ALL THE BLACK
PEOPLE AIDS.
AND THE FAMILY
TREE OF THE
BLACK PEOPLE AIDS
HER MOUTH IS FILTHY
WITH AIDS T.B.
DISEASE. SHE BLOWS
200 BLACK MEN
EVERY DAY. ARE YOU
BLACK PEOPLE COWARDS
DONT LET HER GET BY YOU
IN YOUR AREA CHASE HER
OUT OF YOUR AREA OR BE
A COWARD FOREVER.
I reproduce the wording as it appears, without correcting punctuation.
At first glance, the writer seems to be inciting African-American persons to harass a Euro-American woman called "Scarlet" (which sounds like her "street name").
While the writer adopts a tone of righteous indignation, he/she could as easily be a personal enemy of this woman.
On second thought, my friend suggests the poster might be a hoax, and/or a "conceptual art" project.
What do you think?
And what, if anything, will you do about this?
Tenderloin Queer
SF
Saturday, 20 November 2004
...........
Imagine you're walking thru San Francisco's Tenderloin district, the "home of the homeless", in November 2004.
You see many large posters claiming that one particular HIV-positive woman is infecting many men, by performing fellatio.
If you've read about HIV transmission, you may think this route of infection (from mouth to penis) is less common than its opposite route (from penis to mouth).
If you've read about sexwork, you may think that men should wear condoms when having sex with prostitutes (or any stranger); and that those men who refuse to wear condoms are willfully endangering themselves and all of their partners (including spouses).
In addition to ignorance about health, these posters also exhibit racial bias, in my queer opinion (IMQO).
If these posters were to denounce a black person for allegedly infecting white persons, you'd soon hear outrage from liberals and leftists of all colors. Would they tear the posters down to make a bonfire?
But I've not heard of any protest (yet?), perhaps because the prejudice flows in a different direction.
Here's the actual text, which shouts, alas, in all-caps:
WHITE WOMAN.
SCARLET
.................................
IS GIVING
ALL THE BLACK
PEOPLE AIDS.
AND THE FAMILY
TREE OF THE
BLACK PEOPLE AIDS
HER MOUTH IS FILTHY
WITH AIDS T.B.
DISEASE. SHE BLOWS
200 BLACK MEN
EVERY DAY. ARE YOU
BLACK PEOPLE COWARDS
DONT LET HER GET BY YOU
IN YOUR AREA CHASE HER
OUT OF YOUR AREA OR BE
A COWARD FOREVER.
I reproduce the wording as it appears, without correcting punctuation.
At first glance, the writer seems to be inciting African-American persons to harass a Euro-American woman called "Scarlet" (which sounds like her "street name").
While the writer adopts a tone of righteous indignation, he/she could as easily be a personal enemy of this woman.
On second thought, my friend suggests the poster might be a hoax, and/or a "conceptual art" project.
What do you think?
And what, if anything, will you do about this?
Tenderloin Queer
SF
Saturday, 20 November 2004
...........
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IMC Network
Whats wrong with it anyhow?
That kind of behavior is better than killer vigilantes, which San Francisco has produced in the past.
i agree, someone oughta do something about that. please get back to us when they do, so we can criticize them,
does nessie have an alibi?
Various netizens analyze style,
and then think they're reading fantasy by some cyber-shit(s).
You go, Sherlock!
.......
However, the off-screen world still exists.
If you're brave enough,
go down to the Tenderloin,
in real life
(but only in daytime).
You'll see dozens of copies of the poster,
mostly on Golden Gate Avenue,
near TARC and St. Anthony's Dining Room.
It's hand-lettered in all-caps (I dunno why);
then photo-copied on colored paper.
From the language, I would be surprised if the
original author were computer-literate at all;
(let alone that they knew about e-shouting...) ---
UNLESS some sneaky netizen made the posters while
trying to impersonate a streetperson?
[Theorists, start your motors...]
.....