Biomed in "Acting It Up: Essay

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Doctors had for too long kept strict control over the information that defined their profession. The gay community would have no part of it; people with AIDS started to learn the jargon and the "language of biomedicine," (p. 137).

Remarkably, some doctors sided with the justifiably angry gay community in their quest to wrest health from big pharma. The creation and execution of community-based trials was a radical step, according to the authors. In Part Two of "ACTing it UP," Collins & Pinch describe the development of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), which was a politically active group dedicated to combatting AIDS from the grassroots level. The underlying motive for ACT UP was that "AIDS was a form of genocide by neglect," given the concurrent stigmas against the disease and against homosexuality (Collins & Pinch, p. 137). The political environment in the United States was unabashedly conservative, which dealt a double blow to the gay community.
ACT UP developed a cohesive, comprehensive strategy to combat conservative politics in America. By continuing to empower themselves with knowledge, gay activists were demanding FDA activism in researching and marketing AIDS medications. Empowerment also meant keeping as up-to-date on emerging medical interventions as any doctor -- if not more so. Reading medical journals, taking an active stance in personal treatment programs, and ditching doctors not doing their jobs were some of the ways that people with AIDS helped to win political allies outside of the gay community. Ultimately, Collins & Pinch show how ACT UP and similar movements paved the way for a total redefinition of the patient-doctor relationship. The ACT UP story highlights the Golem nature of science and technology by revealing the corrupt collusions between medical science, politics,….....

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