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HIV/AIDS denialism is the belief, despite conclusive evidence to the contrary, that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Some of its proponents reject the existence of HIV, while others accept that HIV exists but argue that it is a harmless passenger virus and not the cause of AIDS. Insofar as they acknowledge AIDS as a real disease, they attribute it to some combination of sexual behavior, recreational drugs, malnutrition, poor sanitation, haemophilia, or the effects of the medications used to treat HIV infection (antiretrovirals).
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Christine Joy Maggiore was an HIV-positive activist and promoter of HIV/AIDS denialism. She was the founder of Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives, an organization which disputes the link between HIV and AIDS and urges HIV-positive pregnant women to avoid anti-HIV medication. Maggiore authored and self-published the book What If Everything You Thought You Knew about AIDS Was Wrong?
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In the psychology of human behavior, denialism is a person's choice to deny reality as a way to avoid believing in a psychologically uncomfortable truth. Denialism is an essentially irrational action that withholds the validation of a historical experience or event when a person refuses to accept an empirically verifiable reality.
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The Sexual Compulsivity Scale (SCS) - Sexual Sensation Seeking and Sexual Compulsivity Scale - is a psychometric measure of a high libido, hypersexuality and sexual addiction. It was developed by Seth Kalichman. It consists of statements that must be rated on how much the taker agrees with them.
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Nicoli Nattrass is a South African development economist who is professor of economics at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She is the co-director of the Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa (iCWild) and was the founding director of the Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR).
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Big Pharma conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories which claim that pharmaceutical companies, especially large corporations, act in sinister and secretive ways. This includes concealing effective treatments, and perhaps even intentionally causing and worsening a wide range of diseases, in the pursuit of profitability or for other nefarious reasons. Some theories have included the claim that natural alternative remedies to health problems are being suppressed, the claim that drugs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS are ineffective and harmful, the claim that a cure for all cancers has been discovered but hidden from the public, claims that COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective, and that alternative cures are available for COVID-19. In most cases the conspiracy theorists have blamed pharmaceutical companies' search for profits. A range of authors have shown these claims to be false, though some of these authors nevertheless maintain that other criticisms of the pharmaceutical industry are legitimate.
References
- ↑ "AIDS and Behavior". www.springer.com. Springer. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
- ↑ Seth C. Kalichman; David Rompa. "The Sexual Compulsivity Scale:Further Development and Use With HIV-Positive Persons". Archived March 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- 1 2 "Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP)". University of Connecticut. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
- ↑ Wilson, Richard (May 26, 2009). "Exclusive: Interview with Prof Seth Kalichman, author of "Denying Aids"". Archived from the original on October 6, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
- 1 2 3 4 Wortman, James (August 3, 2009). "Debunking the "Beehive" of AIDS Denialism". POZ. Retrieved July 17, 2010.
- ↑ MacKenzie, Deborah (May 19, 2010). "Living in denial: Why sensible people reject the truth". New Scientist. Retrieved July 17, 2010.
- ↑ Seth C. Kalichman; David Rompa. "The Sexual Compulsivity Scale:Further Development and Use With HIV-Positive Persons". Archived March 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "Sexual Compulsivity Scales (SCS)". Brown School of Public Health. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
- ↑ Lemelle, Anthony (September 2009). "Seth Kalichman, Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, and Human Tragedy". Journal of African American Studies. 13 (3). Springer New York: 361–364. doi:10.1007/s12111-009-9098-1. ISSN 1936-4741. S2CID 142080591.
- ↑ Moore, John P. (May 14, 2009). "The dangers of denying HIV". Nature. 459 (7244): 168. Bibcode:2009Natur.459..168M. doi: 10.1038/459168a .
- ↑ Palmquist, Matt (November 3, 2009). "Looking Back In Anger". Miller-McCune. Archived from the original on November 6, 2009. Retrieved November 10, 2009.
- ↑ Bigliardi, Stefano (2019). "The Advocates of Pseudoscience Are Not Monsters – but Pseudoscience Is". Skeptical Inquirer. 43 (6). Center for Inquiry: 58–59.
