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Surviving & Thriving: AIDS, Politics, and Culture

America Responds to AIDS

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Why there’s a connection between sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS, 1980s

The connection might be even simpler than this poster described: AIDS is a disease that can be transmitted sexually. However, the text of this poster from American Responds to AIDS also made a far stronger connection between having sex and contracting a sexually transmitted disease. While this linked unprotected sex with sickness, it did not necessarily empower the viewer to engage in new safer behaviors, rather it sent them to a hotline.

  • Publisher(s):
    Centers for Disease Control
  • Type:
    Poster
Blue tinted photograph of white teenager leaning against a locker and holding two books, looking at the viewer.
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    Why there’s a connection between sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS.

    Simple. The same type of sexual behavior that can infect you with gonorrhea, genital herpes, syphilis, and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can also infect you with something else…the AIDS virus.

    You get STDs by having sex with someone who is infected. That’s bad enough.

    But if you continue the same unprotected sexual behavior, you could get something you Can’t cure. AIDS.

    If you’d like more information on the relationship between AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, call the National AIDS hotline. 1-800-342-AIDS. The hotline for the hearing impaired is 1-800-AIDS-TTY.

    AMERICA RESPONDS TO AIDS

    This is a message from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

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