In contrast to that elaborate exploration of language and epidemiology, we also address a simple request for a correction. Read on to see why this phrase is important and accurate in many news stories - at this moment. What we found is a complex web of advice from experts in both journalism and medicine. After all, the virus itself doesn't target a particular gender. We wondered about that phrase too, because the description seems particularly specific. Seeing that phrase emerge now, in relation to the spread of the monkeypox virus, has many people questioning whether we are making the same mistakes.Īn audience member objected to the phrase, suggesting that there must be better language available to describe a particular monkeypox risk group.
They marginalized those who had the virus, and they didn't educate the public or hold government officials accountable for their failures.īecause the then-fatal virus was spreading predominantly among "men who have sex with men," the public response was hampered by prejudice and moral judgment. It was pejoratively called the "gay plague." In the first years of the crisis, when newsrooms weren't ignoring the emergency (except for the San Francisco Chronicle), they made other mistakes. Carlos Carmonamedina for NPR Public EditorĮven if you've never read And The Band Played On (read the book or see the movie), you know that many, many people died needlessly because of the mistakes made by politicians, public health officials and journalists during the first decade of the AIDS crisis.
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