Women’s histories of HIV/AIDS in Scotland

In this talk Dr Hannah J. Elizabeth explores women’s experiences of HIV/AIDS care and activism in Scotland in the first few decades of the AIDS crisis. This history is traced through a series of case studies, looking particularly at how women’s need for information, healthcare and community was met.

The lecture delves into the early history of the AIDS crisis in Edinburgh, a city which discovered and responded to HIV/AIDS relatively quicky, and so became infamously known as the ‘AIDS Capital of Europe’ in the UK’s tabloid press.

By focusing on women’s experiences of AIDS activism and care, especially around pregnancy and parenthood, Dr Hannah J. Elizabeth demonstrates how a variety of different groups came together in Scotland to meet the needs of women and other HIV-affected folk, offering some hopeful insights about the power of patient self-advocacy and collaboration.

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Dr Hannah J. Elizabeth is a cultural historian of emotions, childhood, sexuality and health based at the University of Strathclyde. Their current research focuses on the history of AIDS denial in the UK and Australia, building on their earlier work on the history of HIV in Edinburgh, and British HIV/AIDS education.