The mainstream is about to usher in a massive curveball to the stigma over HIV that has for long, undisputedly suppressed sexual freedoms, preferences and predispositions. Queue a new era of celebrity, one that panders to empowerment, strength and overcoming adverse reactions and misinformation.
To be HIV positive has long been a taboo trait within the mainstream, but as we found out in the last week one of reality television’s longest-running concepts is about to break down the walls of HIV. Finding Prince Charming will premiere on September 8 to a furore of media obsession, spurred by the uptake in popularity of gay culture – exceeded in coverage only by the quasi-spoiler that one suitor is, in fact, HIV positive.
Already the suitor, who has not yet been revealed, has left media outlets in puzzlement. How can one of the most eligible bachelors in America, one of thirteen who all fit that bill; who, until this discovery was made, embodied the envy of every man and the desire of every woman, possibly be associated with a stigma that for so long has wrongfully connoted weakness, unattractiveness, and undesirability?
Ironically, the unknown suitor still embodies all of the former. Not one of the thirteen men that could be this individual, are being depicted as unattractive or weak, rather all of them are on the fast-track to being celebrities. Beautiful, young, ambitious, successful are all characteristics that have alienated the penetration of negativity to the cast. Their lives are already the centerpieces for modelling a cross-generational population of engaged men and women, who are already cognitively obsessed, with an understanding of the empowerment and braveness that can now be associated with HIV. All it took was one man, and the vehicle of reality television – and now our community changes – – forever.
So, Treasure Island Media encourages you to join us in applause, as the face of HIV changes in the spotlight; only to reflect what we’ve all known was rightful, all along.
Catch the premiere of Finding Prince Charming on September 8, 9/8c on Logo.
