Madonna: how singer broke taboos by including ‘primer on AIDS’ in 1989 album

In 1981, the first case of AIDS was identified in the United States. By the end of the decade, HIV was already infecting thousands of people, who with little information about the virus and the stigmatization that accompanied it, were at risk of developing AIDS.

It was the beginning of a public health crisis whose tragic effects would resonate for several decades.

“Like every disease unknown to health authorities, the first cases were accompanied by a lot of apprehension on the part of the scientific community. It took several years before we understood that the disease was caused by a virus, and what the forms of transmission and prevention were,” he says. Dyemison Pinheiro, infectious disease specialist at Hospital Emílio Ribas and researcher in the field of HIV/Aids.

The delay in obtaining answers to several questions, together with prejudice directed mainly at young gay men, who made up the majority of those affected by the disease, created an environment conducive to the tragic events that marked the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

“We saw a lot of incorrectly used terms in the media, such as ‘gay plague’ or ‘gay cancer’, which reinforced the stigma against this population and conveyed to those who were not gay the idea that AIDS would not affect them, that it was not a their problem. But, as we know, it affected it”, continues Pinheiro.

“There was not as much interest in taking care of this disease as there was, for example, with Covid-19 because AIDS was initially seen as something restricted to a group that was not well seen and welcomed in society”, adds Renan Quinalha, professor of law at Unifesp, lawyer and activist in the field of human rights.

The participation of artists in raising awareness of the disease would become fundamental in helping to destigmatize it, and Madonna was one of the most active figures in this movement.

A few years before the epidemic emerged, in 1978, Madonna Louise Ciccone, aged 20, arrived in New York and sought a career in dance.

In 1983, the year Madonna released her self-titled debut album, two independent research groups concluded that a new retrovirus — what we now call HIV — could be infecting people with the deadliest syndrome, AIDS.

Involved in the pop cultural scene of the time, the artist immersed herself in queer club culture and saw the epidemic spread up close.

“Pop music in the 80s was for everyone, but LGBTQIA+ people and women quickly connected with Madonna in a space of freedom. She provided this space of ‘my desires, my questions exist and they make sense’ , something especially important at the time, when issues from these groups were diminished,” says cultural journalist Renan Guerra, host of the podcast ‘Let’s Talk About Music?’

“It was a time of experimentation, of liberation. And it’s interesting to see that she was together with these people before, embracing freedom, and then, when things get difficult with the arrival of HIV, she doesn’t give up being with these same people people.”

Three years later, in August 1986, Madonna’s best friend, Martin Burgoyne, 23, began to have symptoms of the disease. The young man, who had moved to New York to study art and shared an apartment with the singer, thought he had measles. But before long he was diagnosed with AIDS and died in November of that year.

It was Martin who managed their first club tour, and designed the cover image for the 1983 album “Burning Up”.

In the assessment of cultural journalist Renan Guerra, the loss of this and other friends, her first dance teacher, Christopher Flynn, had a profound impact on the singer’s commitment to educating the public about the virus.

“When you have friends who are different from you, you learn about the world. And when you lose one of those friends, it’s a very painful force. The people who went through this understood the horror that was happening and created art that can have a huge impact on us”, says Guerra.

Five years later, she wrote ‘In This Life’ as a tribute to Burgoyne and Flynn.

“People pass by and I wonder who will be next

Who determines, who knows best

Is there a lesson I should learn in this case

Ignorance is not bliss”, says an excerpt from the song.

In 1989, with a simple and direct message, Madonna broke taboos by including a primer on AIDS within her album ‘Like a Prayer’.

The leaflet said, in Portuguese translation:

“AIDS is a disease with the same opportunities. It affects men, women and children, without distinction of race, age or sexual orientation. AIDS is caused by a virus called HIV. To date, there is no conclusive data to explain how AIDS began or where it came from. People with AIDS – regardless of their sexual orientation – deserve compassion and support, not violence and intolerance.

• You can get AIDS by having vaginal or anal sex with an infected partner.
• You can get AIDS by sharing drug needles with an infected person
• You can get AIDS if you are born to an infected mother

The simple act of putting on a condom can save your life if used correctly every time you have sex.

The album also addressed other subjects in a progressive way for the time. The lyrics, accompanied by melodic or danceable beats, addressed themes such as childhood loss, child abuse, marital abuse, women’s rights and spirituality.

“With the message about AIDS, Madonna played the role that the media did not play. The role that governments did not play. Talking about ways of transmitting HIV, with an emphasis on the possibility of infection occurring in anyone, including babies, was one of the greatest contributions an artist could make to the cause. Furthermore, highlighting that people living with HIV deserve compassion and support and non-violence clearly marks their position in the face of stigma”, says Dyemison Pinheiro.

“Coming from an artist who at the time already had a huge impact, but in a way, was still establishing herself on the world stage, it could have ruined everything from a financial or media point of view, as it was a delicate matter for the era.”

Ending the text of the booklet talking about the use of condoms as a prevention method, says Pinheiro, is the highlight.

“Calling the act of using a condom ‘simple’ is interesting because it conveys the idea that it is something accessible and viable for all people who read the text. Concluding that protection should be used in all relationships is, for me, a public health issue.”

Information at the beginning of the 80s was very scarce and inconsistent, says the infectious disease specialist.

“The media, in turn, played much more of a role in promoting the disease, always with sensationalist headlines, more concerned with sales numbers than with the dissemination of scientific information about AIDS. The LGBTQIA+ community was the one that gave the kick in guiding your own.”

“This coming from an artist who was already well known at the time, but was still becoming famous worldwide, could risk her reputation and popularity, as it was a sensitive subject at the time. Even so, she decided to contribute significantly to the fight against AIDS.”

For being an active voice in the fight against the virus, Madonna was the target of rumors that she herself was a carrier of the HIV virus.

The singer dispelled these rumors in 1991, when she received the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR) Courage Award at a benefit in Los Angeles.

“I’m not HIV positive, but what if I were? I would be more afraid of how society would treat me for having the disease than of the disease itself.”

“Many of her dancers were living with HIV, these discoveries were made during her tours in the 80s and 90s, and she always provided greater support”, recalls professor Renan Quinalha.

“She visited people who were sick as a result of AIDS, talked about the use of condoms, used sex in a demoralized way in her presentations… I think all of this helped to bring sexuality and also HIV and AIDS out of the closet, and helped us debate more openly.”

“While the world was moving towards a more conservative position, afraid of sex due to HIV, Madonna released ‘Erotica’ [1992] and talks about sex, talks about its importance for life. I think she has this thing about leading and pushing issues that are problematic for a conservative society.

“People understand it as controversial, but for me, it’s fundamental. At that moment, Madonna says ‘We can’t be afraid, this is a fundamental issue in our lives”, says Guerra.

Another consequence of the epidemic caused by the virus, he says, was the loss of a specific identity in men’s fashion.

“The tighter, more colorful clothes, common in the 1980s for gay men but also for straight men, were abandoned for fear of being seen as homosexual.”

In the fashion industry, male designers lost their chance at jobs because of the “Aids factor”, as shown in a February 1990 passage from the newspaper The New York Times.

The text describes how designer Carmelo Pomodoro recommended a list of five designers to a Japanese brand.

“When they got back to me, they said they weren’t interested in men, because of the AIDS factor.”

“This will have a huge impact. The real AIDS numbers may not be very large, but the industry doesn’t have that many design companies. The ’90s could be the decade of female designers.”

Madonna’s current tour, ‘The Celebration Tour’, which began in October 2023, features a tribute to AIDS victims.

To the sound of ‘Live To Tell’, a mural on the stage displays the faces of a small portion of the 40 million people who, according to data from the World Health Organization, have died from the disease.

The project appears to have been inspired by the Instagram page @TheAidsMemorial, followed by Madonna. The account functions as a memorial dedicated to telling the stories and remembering those affected by the disease.

At the free show that will take place on Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, next Saturday (4/5), Madonna is expected to show off the performance.

In Mônica Bergamo’s column, in the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, Sasha Kasiuha, content director of the Celebration Tour, said that the show in Rio de Janeiro should include the faces of Brazilians who died from AIDS and, possibly, a tribute to the singer Cazuza , who also died as a result of the disease.

“The number of scientists, creators and thinkers who were murdered and destroyed by this epidemic [de Aids] is absurd. I think the act of rescuing the memory of these people is fundamental, because we think that these people, who before AIDS, were creating things, making contributions. And if we can talk about the subject today, it’s also because of these people”, says Guerra.