‘Burning is too good for them’: Sex, retribution and ‘others’

In this article, the authors comment on some contemporary and old negative responses to Sexually Transmitted Infections as part of long-standing historical discourses, examined in an English context. They argue that the function of many of these is to quite literally keep people with sexually transmitted diseases at a distance and, therefore, reduce the anxiety disease evokes. These discourses are named as ‘Infection as retribution’ and ‘Sex as a source of societal contagion’ and often operate in alliance. The concept of ‘Othering’ is also used to illustrate the operation of these discourses in some Western societies since Biblical times. Their existence is discussed from the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah to the appearance of AIDS, through to the recent prosecutions for HIV transmission. Despite their existence, it is argued that these discourses can be challenged and attitudes positively influenced.