In November of 1991, when basketball star Magic Johnson announced that he had contracted HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS, sports fans around the world were shocked. Up until this announcement, HIV/AIDS was considered to be a disease contracted by homosexual men, drug users and prostitutes. It was definitely not a disease that heterosexual men got, especially not renowned ladies men and athletes like Magic.
I think that in most situations like this, the public would have assumed that the man who contracted HIV/AIDS was a closet homosexual. However, Magic had been quite public about his romantic affairs with women. His images as an athlete and a ladies man gave credibility to his masculinity, and therefore saved him from being considered a homosexual male.
I think that Magic’s announcement has helped change at least two things about our society. Firstly, I think that Magic’s announcement helped change the way that the public views HIV/AIDS. Today people no longer consider HIV/AIDS to be a threat strictly to homosexual males, drug users, or prostitutes. It has also helped raise awareness about the virus, and that awareness has probably saved countless lives over the course of the last two decades.
Secondly I believe that Magic’s announcement has helped decrease the social acceptability of athletes sleeping around with lots of random partners. Whereas it used to be considered cool, manly, and socially acceptable to sleep with as many women as possible (Case in point: Wilt Chamberlain claiming to have had sex with more than 20,000 women), these days it is considered irresponsible for athletes to have that many partners. It is also considered a bad example to young people who consider athletes to be their role models. I think that Magic Johnson’s public announcement of having contracted HIV/AIDS directly influenced this change.
While I think it was reckless for Magic to sleep around and contract a potentially fatal disease, I think that his response to the situation was great. He didn’t have to go public with his private struggles, but he did. And I think that it has helped us, as a society, better understand HIV/AIDS and the consequences of sleeping with tons of different partners.
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It is interesting that you say that Magic's announcement about contracting HIV/AIDs has seemingly made it less acceptable for celebrity athletes to sleep around with a lot of partners--especially in light of the recent revelations about Tiger Woods. I am surprised at how many people are saying, "He's human. You need to forgive him." I am all for forgiving him, but it sounds like he is treading in dangerous territory, and ought to have learned something based upon what happened to Magic.
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