AIDS Activists Offer List of Words, Phrases They Find Unacceptable

Activists at the Sixth International Conference on AIDS this week are so sensitive to some words and phrases they distributed a “Buzzword” flyer. It spells out why speakers at the meeting run the risk of being booed if they use politically incorrect words.

Among the taboo phrases are “high-risk groups,” “innocent victims” and “intimate sexual contact.”

AIDS workers prefer “high-risk behavior” to “high-risk groups” because actions such as sharing drug needles spread AIDS, not mere membership in a group.

Calling an infant “an innocent victim of AIDS” is considered very impolitic, AIDS workers say, because it implies other people living with AIDS somehow deserve it and should feel guilty about contracting the disease.