In 1986, a public information film was released by Her Majesty’s Government featuring what can only be described as a short 40 second horror movie showing the world descending into chaos, at the hands of aids. The advert is remembered as horrifying and sending chills down the spines of children and young people when it first aired. It is hard to imagine a similar public information campaign featuring just as much fire and destruction as this clip, even in the age of a post pandemic world.
The aim of the video was to scare people, which is why it was so horrifying. According to Normal Fowler, the Health Secretary from 1981-87, this advert had been called so scary that it put off a whole generation from having sex. Unable to promote the practice of safe sex, or testing on national television, the video references a leaflet and insists that reading it could almost be a matter of life and death. The leaflet featured a gigantic gravestone with ‘AIDS’ written over it.
Aids was surrounded by much taboo during those days, and in a conservative country like Britain, public information campaigns had to be somewhat original and creative when it came to spreading their message without directly saying what it is that needed to be said. The video starts with a volcano, as a symbol of it being the end of the world. Interestingly, the film director, Nick Roeg was chosen to produce this vintage masterpiece specifically for his talent in gloomy sci-fi films, and in their original plans, the film was going to start with the beginning of a nuclear war. Thatcher intervened, considering this a tad too overdramatic.. Understandably perhaps, given the timing of the Cold War.
It is perhaps one of the darkest chapters in the history of our party to remember the relationship we had with LGBT+ rights under Thatcher, and beyond. Unsurprisingly, many LGBT+ people died from aids and active steps were only taken, to quote the video, because ‘so far it’s been confined to small groups but it’s spreading.’ It’s chilling to think that phobias could make a whole generation of people overlook the deaths of gay people with such ease and only take action once aids started spreading to heterosexual people.
No one in the Conservative party is proud of this history, and after years of policy making and changed societal values and views, the Conservative party has done much to redeem itself when it comes to LGBT+ rights. In fact, on gov.uk the Government is advertising that everyone who is offered HIV testing by their healthcare provider is advised to accept it with some further advice on HIV testing.
I would go further than the Government advice on this and urge everyone to get tested. Whilst HIV is more likely to be caught by practicing unsafe sex and sharing needles, other STI’s can be caught more easily, and unfortunately, there is a lot of STI’s going around, and remembering how you can catch every single one of them is impossible.
Now, full discretion, I am neither someone who tends to practice unsafe sex nor someone who shares, or even uses, needles. I have never had a drug problem and I never slept with multiple partners and overall, I have always taken a responsible approach to my sexual health because you can never be too sure and I have been brought up in Britain where subconsciously, I somehow always understood just how important it is to be careful and responsible over my own health.
Without dwelling too much into my personal life, I still test at least once a year for all possible STI’s and far from being ashamed of talking about it, I brag about this and encourage all of my friends to do it. I do this because sexual health is important, and I take active steps to ensure I am healthy for me and for my partner.
As a country, we have moved on so much from the times when the 1986 public information film aired that STI testing which tests you for everything under the sun are available for free online, or plenty of other locations. It has never been easier to look after your sexual health than it is today, and we should be fully enjoying this luxury; a luxury that was not available to many before us.
Campaigners during the aids epidemic succeeded in promoting the practice of safe sex, and for me, it has really normalised consistent STI testing today, perhaps in large part, as an indemnification for the pain of those who struggled, those who were invisible, and those who tragically did not make it.
Laura Gherman - VC for Membership
