The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS: How a Tragedy Has Been Distorted by the Media and Partisan Politics [Paperback]

Michael Fumento (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1993

In a critique of recent declarations of an AIDS epidemic, the author argues that AIDS is not a heterosexual disease and contends that homosexuals and IV drug users are still the highest risk groups. By the author of Science Under Siege. Original.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The belief that AIDS is poised to break out widely among non-drug-abusing heterosexuals is a myth created by the media and public health officials, charges Fumento. This former AIDS analyst for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights contends that estimates of the number of infected people, and of the risks to heterosexuals, have been grossly exaggerated, arguing further that the epidemic appears to be peaking. According to Fumento, two groups have fueled the alarmist myth: prudish conservative moralists and liberal "democratizers" eager to demonstrate that AIDS is not a "gay plague." His allegation that AIDS research has drained funds from the fight against cancer will outrage activists who want more federal dollars spent on AIDS. Among this polemic's more controversial or startling contentions is the assertion that the incidence of AIDS in Africa has been greatly overstated, and the claim that bisexuality among U.S. blacks and Hispanics, far more than that among whites, has played a major role in AIDS transmission.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Written by a former AIDS analyst for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, this book is certain to be controversial. Its stated purpose is "one of trying to show the effect of politics on AIDS and to some extent on science in general, and to provide an objective account of the risks of contracting AIDS and of the scope of the epidemic." Fumento's premise: "among the great wide percentage of the nation the media calls 'the general population,' that section the media and the public health authorities has tried desperately to terrify, there is no epidemic." Attempting to mollify the fears created by "alarmists," the author uses an insidiously homophobic, flippant style to heighten an "us verus them" attitude toward the crisis, claiming that the money spent on research and education is being siphoned from other more deserving diseases. Though Fumento throws a lot of statistics around, his argument is contradicted by the continuing spread of AIDS among heterosexuals. Not a balanced approach.
-James E. Van Buskirk, Acad . of Art Coll. Lib., San Francisco
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 463 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Pub (September 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895267292
• ISBN-13: 978-0895267290
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,182,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Include this book in "Banned Books Week" promotions, April 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS: How a Tragedy Has Been Distorted by the Media and Partisan Politics (Paperback)

Good grief, look at the lame objections to Fumento's book. He never said heterosexuals *couldn't* get AIDS, just that they were nowhere near as likely to get it as the classic risk groups. Is there something wrong with acknowledging this?

Is his message one of tolerance for heterosexual promiscuity? No. He points out that the places where it is widely associated with heterosexual sex are places where one or more of the following are true: 1) Heavy sanctions against homosexuality impel sufferers to deny their true activity; 2) Rampant promiscuity has led to rampant VD, causing lesions which encourage the blood-to-body-fluid contact needed for AIDS transmission and concentrating the disease in prostitutes; and 3) because of severe shortages, medical professionals reuse needles themselves, effectively giving their patients the AIDS transmission rates associated with intravenous drug abusers.

In IL there was once a requirement for an AIDS test before issuing a marriage license, but after a while it was dropped because there were so many false positives on the test relative to the actual incidence in couples about to get married.

In the paperback edition I saw, Fumento noted the efforts made by various individuals and groups to suppress his politically incorrect message. I know indirectly, because it took me a couple of years to get my copy of the book back in the early 90's. I didn't succeed until another publisher took it over.

Thank you Mr. Fumento for sticking to your guns. The reviewers who gave this book fewer than three stars to date are just regurgitating a mindless left-wing catechism.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Voice of Calm and Reason In An Age of Hysteria, July 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS: How a Tragedy Has Been Distorted by the Media and Partisan Politics (Paperback)

If you are a non-IV drug using heterosexual, this book is simply the single best resource on HIV and AIDS available to you. The author is the first Ive ever read who is able to accurately interpret the statistics involved. He is also able to take important scientific findings, such as the issues regarding "virul load" and make them understandable to the lay person. His arguments are cogent and well documented and, best of all, the past eight years have proven them correct, from both a scientific and epidemiological standpoint. Very very few books on this issue remain in print this long. There is a reason this one has. If you fear this disease, this is the book to help you determine how realistic (or not) your fear is.

37 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much-needed antidote to hysteria, March 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS: How a Tragedy Has Been Distorted by the Media and Partisan Politics (Paperback)

This is one of the most important books of the 1990s. It changed my life, and can change yours, too.

AIDS has afflicted gay men and hemophiliacs in numbers which are wildly disproportionate compared to their total numbers in the population. To ignore the facts, and pretend that all people who engage in any kind of sexual activity are equally at risk, is to encourage those in high-risk groups to engage in more risky behavior, and is thereby doing them a great, great disservice which invariably costs many more lives.

Before you buy into the PC hype, you would do well to consult the CDC's own data, which was a major information source for this book.

AIDS is indeed a great tragedy, which is why it's so important that we be honest about it and ignore the PC hysteria.

Michael Fumento had a thankless task in writing this book, for which he has mostly received scorn, and even lost his job at one point. Regardless, thank Whatever that something possessed him to write it, for we can all benefit from this courageous work.