Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants
Producing Respectable Women: Analysis of HIV/AIDS Coverage in Ebony and Essence
Department
Women and Gender Studies
College
Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies
Date Range
2012-2013
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities
Abstract
This analysis of Essence and Ebony magazines' coverage of the HIV/AIDS epidemic illustrates that the magazine emphasized a politics of respectability, encouraging women to behave as model women and citizens, refraining from promiscuity and non-normative behaviors that may put them at risk. The author calls for an attention to the ways these politics, which are used to "protect" women are also used to police black women's behavior. Examining discourses about the HIV/AIDS epidemic provides an important example of how these politics of respectability can be even more harmful when topics require open discussions of sexuality.
Conference Name
National Women's Studies Association
Conference Location
Oakland, CA
ScholarWorks Citation
Weekley, Ayana, "Producing Respectable Women: Analysis of HIV/AIDS Coverage in Ebony and Essence" (2013). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 1011.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/1011
