HIV-AIDS and Women Equals Misogyny finds "On The Issues Magazine," Publishing Online with new OCR Technology

NEW YORK: HIV-AIDS is crossing the gender divide and targeting women while the world looks the other way. What is a woman worth? asks ON THE ISSUES MAGAZINE ONLINE in a series of probing articles and art that explore the deadly cocktail of sexism, silence and HIV.

The feminization of HIV is the topic of the first full edition of ON THE ISSUES MAGAZINE ONLINE, (www.ontheissuesmagazine.com), now released. With the title, “HIV-AIDS: BLOWBACK HITS WOMEN HARD.” the feminist and progressive magazine offers, subscription-free, a dozen original selections of journalism and art on the effects of gender disparities and HIV.

“We need a planetary alarm for the women of the world,” said Merle Hoffman, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. “After 25 years of gender gains and backlash, women are suffering collateral damage from HIV-AIDS. Women’s inability to negotiate sexually, be free from violence and secure resources feeds this disease. Although the autopsy may say HIV-AIDS, misogyny and racism are killing women,” said Hoffman.

Each day, 7,000 women are infected with HIV worldwide. In the U.S., women now comprise 27 percent of new infections. Most are infected by heterosexual contact with husbands and boyfriends, reports award winning journalist Molly M. Ginty in “HIV Spreads Rapid-Fire in the U.S.”

Moving online after 16 years as a print publication, ON THE ISSUES MAGAZINE carries a reputation for publishing independent voices of courage and conviction.

The new magazine uses new OCR (optical character recognition) technology, said Mark Phillips, Director of Technology and Creative Design. As a result, all of the original magazine content is in editable files on the Internet site. “All of the pdfs are searchable with our site search engine and researchers can readily find topics discussed in hundreds of articles,” said Phillips.

In an article from 1985, highlighted on the site now, Hoffman describes a heart-wrenching visit to an AIDS ward in San Francisco, and predicts women will be targets of the disease in the future.
The magazine also features poetry by Gale Jackson, selected by Poetry Editor Clare Coss, about “conversations lost” because of AIDS. An interactive display of Linda Stein’s sculpture shows “Knights of Protection and Healing” who offer hope and transformation.

“Most exciting is our new feature, The Café at OTI, in which we will continually add commentary by leading writers and thinkers,” said Hoffman, who is also founder, CEO and president of Choices Women’s Medical Center in New York. Dr. Mahin Hassibi recalls the perplexing first reports of HIV-AIDS in the 1980s in The Cafe, and Dr. Ann Boyer describes how HIV+ women today may safely carry pregnancies.

A subscription-free publication, readers of On The Issues Magazine Online can sign up easily for future releases and updates. See www.ontheissuesmagazine.com

Contact Information

Cindy Cooper

Managing Editor

On The Issues Magazine

Contact via E-mail