Books/Articles on Post-Epidemic Discourse?

[Necromancer]

As part of my thesis, I'm writing a section analyzing the marriage debate (read: obsession) as part of a post-epidemic ideological shift resulting from the AIDS crisis of the 80s. Does anyone here have any good sources for me? Anything that looks at responses to epidemics in general, or queer cultural responses in particular, would be welcome.

Thanks!

[Latrinsorm]

I saw this book in the library the other day. I don't know if it talks about AIDS in particular, but it uses the word "heteronormativity", so I figure it's somewhat relevant:

http://www.amazon.com/Impossible-Dance-Culture-Queer-World-Making/dp/0819564974

As a bit of an aside, are we really post-epidemic when it comes to AIDS?

[Necromancer]

No, but the massive deaths in the community are no longer the norm. As you can well imagine, the devestation that resulted radically altered the community. The resulting changes were as dramatic as they were abrupt. A new standard of beauty emerged among gay men (the over-muscled BIG guy- the anti-diseased body) and a new discourse around sex. A lot of us started to buy the "You have lots of sex, you get disease. It's no more than you deserve" bullshit tag line. Lots of writing about how the community had 'matured'; grown out of its 'radical infancy'. And, even more surprising, the community whose political agenda had resisted marriage as a legitimate goal for over twenty years suddenly become OBSESSED with it in the early 1990s. Right about the same time that divorce rates had begun to climb again and marriage became increasingly delayed by young people, particularly men but also women. Coincidence? I think not.

[Latrinsorm]

This may be because I've had a few, but do you (as a gay dude) feel that there's a sort of one voice in the community? For instance, that there's a one "political agenda"? I've always felt that was an oversimplification for pretty much any group, let alone a predominantly counterculture one. I could be wrong!

Is that book at all helpful, btw? I might be able to find stuff like it on Monday, LoC codes ftw!

[Stanley Burrell]

Galileo's Gout is unbeatable if you want a more sociocultural standard of politics in a more generalized area of disease and sickness, in general, generally speaking.

[Back]

We are in a post-epidemic of ideology, not disease.

Smart and stupid.

Evolved and Stalled.

[Necromancer]

Yes, the 'community' has a very univocal representation of voice. It's very sad. Particularly with the marriage issue, I think Judith Butler said it best when asked what she thought about gay marriage (she's a major queer theorist), "I'm not allowed to talk about that".

Anyone who dares dissent from the pro-marriage or pro-military rhetoric is cast out without a voice. The reactions are extreme, and the opinions are considered to be selfish and naiive. It's a bitterly ironic situation.

The book looked great, but I think it misses the mark a bit on what I'm looking for. I need something a bit more focused on the macropolitical consequences of the discursive shift. It looked like that book was more analyzing the role of night life in building and then reflecting that shift.