Women’s histories of HIV/AIDS in Scotland
Join Dr Hannah J. Elizabeth at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh to explore women’s experiences of HIV/AIDS care and activism in Scotland in the first few decades of the AIDS crisis.
About Women’s histories of HIV/AIDS in Scotland
| 10th September 2025 | |
| 6pm - 7pm | |
|
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 9 Queen Street, Edinburgh New Town EH2 1JQ |
|
| £3 / Free for students, under 18s or Fellows and Member of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh | |
| Visit the event website here | |
| Follow RCPEHeritage on Twitter | |
| Facebook information can be found here | |
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This history is traced through a series of case studies, looking particularly at how women’s need for information, healthcare and community was met.
To do this, 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, the paper 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.
Beyond HIV/AIDS histories, they’ve researched and published on topics as diverse as the history of sex education, smoking, polio, fuel poverty, hypothermia, lesbian health activism and zombies.
You can find them on BlueSky at @sexhistorian
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Free for students (student card required), under 18s (ID card required) and Fellows or Members of the College.
Please email library@rcpe.ac.uk if you are a student, under 18, a Fellow or Member of the College and would like to be added to the attendee list.
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