This article investigates messages of responsibility expressed in HIV/AIDS health promotion literature produced in England. Critical academic literature provides an analysis of the impact of overly individualized approaches to responsibility for health, which lead to victim blaming. While some of the materials in this sample demonstrate the type of simplistic approach to responsibility addressed by this literature, there are also some expressing shared social and organizational responsibility for AIDS prevention. These complex differences will be discussed in the article with reference to specific examples of image and text from prevention materials. I argue that isolated messages of individual responsibility alone do not encourage readers to identify with the broader social context of the epidemic. It is not only possible but imperative to integrate notions of broader shared responsibilities into public health efforts in order to generate a community response that includes attempts to reduce social vulnerability among those most at risk of contracting the virus. This has implications for the success of future HIV prevention efforts both in England and globally.
Ashton, J. and Seymour, H. (1988). The new public health. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
2.
Berridge, V. (1996). AIDS in the UK:The making of policy, 1981–1994. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3.
Bloor, M. (1995). A user’s guide to contrasting theories of HIV-related risk behaviour. In J. Gabe (Ed.), Medicine, health and risk, pp. 19–30. London: Blackwell.
4.
Brandt, A.M. (1997). Behaviour, disease, and health in the twentieth-century United States. In A.M. Brandt and P. Rozin (Eds.), Morality and health, pp. 53–77. New York: Routledge.
5.
Crawford, R. (1977). You are dangerous to your health: The ideology and politics of victim blaming. International Journal of Health Services, 7, 663–680.
6.
Crawford, R. (1994). The boundaries of the self and the unhealthy other: Reflections on health, culture and AIDS. Social Science & Medicine, 38, 1347–1365.
7.
Daykin, N. and Naidoo, J. (1995). Feminist critiques of health promotion. In R. Bunton, S. Nettleton and R. Burrows (Eds.), The sociology of health promotion: Critical analyses of consumption, lifestyle and risk, pp. 59–69. London: Routledge.
8.
Denning, P. , Nakashima, A.K. and Wortley, P. (2000). Increasing rates of unprotected anal intercourse among HIV-infected men who have sex with men in the United States. Paper presented at the XIII International AIDS Conference, Durban, South Africa, July.
9.
Department of Health . (1992). The health of the nation. London: HMSO.
10.
Department of Health . (1999). Our healthier nation. http://www.ohn.gov.uk/ohn/ohn.htm (accessed 12 October 2000).
11.
Field, B. , Wellings, K. and McVey, D. (1997). Promoting safer sex:A history of the Health Education Authority’s mass media campaigns on HIV, AIDS and sexual health 1987–1996. London: Health Education Authority.
12.
Frankenberg, R. (1994). The impact of HIV/AIDS on concepts relating to risk and culture within British community epidemiology: Candidates or targets for prevention. Social Science & Medicine, 39, 1325–1335.
13.
Gastaldo, D. (1997). Is health education good for you? In A. Petersen and R. Bunton (Eds.), Foucault: Health and medicine, pp. 113–133. London: Routledge.
14.
Illingworth, P. (1991). Warning: AIDS health promotion programs may be hazardous to your autonomy. In C. Overall and W. Zion (Eds.), Perspectives on AIDS: Ethical and social issues, pp. 138–155. Toronto: Oxford University Press.
15.
Jewitt, C. (1997). Images of men: Male sexuality in sexual health leaflets and posters for young people. Sociological Research Online, 2(2), 1–16. http://www.socresonline.org.uk/2/2/6.html (accessed 9 October 2000).
16.
Kennedy, I. (1993). The unmasking of medicine:A searching look at health care today. London: Granada.
17.
Kitzinger, J. (1998). Media impact on public belief about AIDS. In D. Miller, J. Kitzinger, K. Williams and P. Beharrell (Eds.), The circuit of mass communication, pp. 167–191. London: Sage.
18.
Knowles, J. (1977). The responsibility of the individual. Daedalus, 106, 57–80.
19.
Kramer, L. (1990). Reports from the Holocaust:The makings of an AIDS activist. London: Penguin.
20.
Kress, G. and Van Leeuwen, T. (1996). Reading images:The grammar of visual design. London: Routledge.
21.
Lalonde, M. (1974). A new perspective on the health of Canadians:A working document. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada.
22.
Leichter, H. (1980). Public policy and the British experience. The Hastings Centre Report, October, 32–39.
23.
Levinas, E. (1989). Levinas reader. Oxford: Blackwell.
24.
Lollis, C. , Johnson, E. and Antoni, M. (1997). The efficacy of the health belief model for predicting condom usage and risky sexual practices in university students. AIDS Education and Prevention, 9, 551–563.
McKie, D. (1986). Drug addicts ‘to get free needles’ in AIDS battle. Guardian, 13 December, 2-2.
27.
Mann, J. (1996). Health and human rights. British Medical Journal, 312, 924–925.
28.
Mays, V.M. , Nardi, P.M., Cochran, S.D. and Taylor, R.J. (2000). The importance of friendship networks in HIV prevention among African-American gay men. Paper presented at the XIII International AIDS Conference, Durban, South Africa, July.
29.
Miller, D. , Kitzinger, J., Williams, K. and Beharrell, P. (1998). The circuit of mass communication. London: Sage.
30.
Moran, R. (1997). When lightning strikes twice:Adult sexual assault and HIV. Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester.
31.
Ortega, L. and Ko Tval, I.A. (2000). Going public: Building community among traditional and emerging HIV/AIDS populations. Paper presented at the XIII International AIDS Conference, Durban, South Africa, July.
32.
Pollack, M. (1992). Attitudes, beliefs, opinions. In M. Pollack, G. Paicheler and J. Pierret (Eds.), AIDS:A problem for sociological research, pp. 25–36. London: Sage.
33.
Public Health Laboratory Service AIDS Centre . (2000). AIDS/HIV quarterly surveillance tables: UK data to end June 2000. No. 47. London: PHLS.
34.
Rosenstock, I. (1974). The health belief model and preventive health behaviour. Health Education Monographs, 2, 27–59.
35.
UNAIDS (1998). Expanding the global response to HIV/AIDS through focused action. Geneva: UNAIDS.
36.
UNAIDS (2000). Report on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic – June 2000. Geneva: UNAIDS.
37.
Veatch, R. (1980). Voluntary risks to health: The ethical issues. Journal of the American Medical Association, 243, 50–55.
38.
World Bank . (1993). World development report 1993: Investing in health. New York: Oxford University Press.
