“Disciplining the Body”: HIV-Positive Male Athletes, Media Surveillance, and the Policing of Sexuality

This paper analyzes how mainstream print media polices sexuality through framings of HIV-positive male athletes. We analyze the HIV-positive announcements of Magic Johnson, Greg Louganis, and Tommy Morrison. Specifically, we discuss differences between the framing of gay men (Louganis) and self-identified heterosexual men (Johnson and Morrison). First, there is an extensive search for the ways Magic Johnson and Tommy Morrison contracted HIV/AIDS. Media coverage emphasizes that “straights can get it too” through promiscuity and a “fast lane” lifestyle. Consistent with the historically automatic conflation of HIV/AIDS with gay identity, the media pose no inquiries into the cause of Louganis’ HIV transmission. We close our discussion by focusing on the meaning of extending the signifier of HIV/AIDS beyond gay bodies to include working class and black male bodies. Media surveillance of sexual identity and the body reinforces hegemonic masculinity in sport while feeding into the current sexual hierarchy in U.S. culture.