I decided to choose this flyer out of all the others for a few key reasons. The flyer itself is one of many that were found within the AIDS Poster Collection at UR;so that alone makes it part of a larger collection of items that advocate for AIDS awareness. With that being said, this particular poster stood out among the rest due to its message. “Sleeping with your partner is sleeping with their past,” I feel like this message speaks volumes. Often when people get into relationships they tend to not want to ask about their partners past. This can be due to a number of different reasonings: jealousy, being uncomfortable, trying to establish a respect of privacy, ect. With that, I still believe that speaking to one’s partner about past relationships is extremely important.
Personally, when I start a relationship with someone, this is one of the first questions I ask. Now I understand that not everyone is as straightforward as I am, but this is a habit that I think people should start practicing. Having this conversation is hard when starting off a new relationship but it is also one that can save your life or your partner’s life. Starting the conversation encourages people to go out and get tested and makes people more conscious, as well as gives them a sense control in their sex lives and actions.
I think that this poster is related to the class because the AIDs outbreak was directly related to the LGBTQ+ community originally. Growing up I was always told that AIDs was a “gay man’s” disease. That comment being made by ignorant people of course, but it was still heavily associated with the greater community. I also think this poster relates to the class because the poster itself was publishedas a means of educated the community at large
about this outbreak. To me, this class strives to educate the students about all issues related or targeted towards the LGBTQ+ community, by learning about these issues we can hope to spread further awareness and lead people away from cultural ignorance.
