Sex in an Epidemic

Director Jean Carlomusto's oral history documentary contrasts sex education during the early days of the AIDS epidemic with the situation today. The film's title stems from the 1983 booklet How to Have Sex in an Epidemic, written by Michael Callen, Dr. Joseph Sonnabend, and former sex worker Richard Berkowitz. Carlomusto also recognizes other key activists, such as playwright Larry Kramer and author Edmund White (co-founders of the Gay Men's Health Crisis), through a combination of new interviews and archival footage. White recalls that when his French colleagues first heard about AIDS, they scoffed, saying that a disease targeting gay men sounded “like an expression of American Puritanism.” Several speakers describe the confusion of the 1980s, a time when even hand-holding seemed dangerous, while others—such as Rodger McFarlane, former GMHC director—wish they had acted sooner in terms of prevention. Carlomusto also speaks with ACT UP's Maxine Wolfe (who notes that “nobody was talking about women”), examines the resignation of U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders (who ignited controversy for her efforts to promote safe sex among young people), and looks at the impact of representatives of the Christian right, such as Anita Bryant and Jerry Falwell, who viewed AIDS as a reckoning for sinful behavior. DVD extras include deleted scenes. Offering a solid history of the origins of “safe sex” as a response to the AIDS epidemic, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)