Because the worldwide spread of AIDS has had such a tragic effect on millions of people world-wide, a number of myths, urban legends, and conspiracy theories have arisen surrounding the disease. Perhaps some of these serve as a psychological mechanism for people to cope with the epidemic, or perhaps in some cases, as a device to lay blame on someone for the epidemic.
In some parts of Africa, an urban legend stating that having sexual intercourse with a virgin will cure AIDS has gained considerable notoriety. This myth has been seen at the center of certain recent stories involving sexual abuse and child rape. Not only does this not cure the abuser, it often infects their victim with HIV, leading to their developing and dying from AIDS, and spreading HIV still further into the population.
A misconception holds that one person introduced HIV to North America. For information on this belief, see Patient Zero.
During the early 1980s, the disease's disproportionate occurrence within the gay community has led some Christianfundamentalists to brand AIDS the 'gay plague', a device used by God to show his "displeasure" with homosexual behaviour. This view was based upon a Biblical interpretation stating that homosexuality is a sin. Conservative religious spokespersons such as Jerry Falwell touched off considerable controversy when they described AIDS as God's way of "punishing" homosexuals. Opponents pointed out that, if this was true, hemophilia was a sin and God loved lesbians (who had a lower incidence of AIDS than either gay men or heterosexuals of either sex).
