Diseased Pariah News (DPN) Complete Run of 11 issues, 1990-1999

Beowulf THORNE; Tom SHEARER et al.

Published by self-published, San Francisco, 1990

About this Item

San Francisco: self-published, 1990-1999. 21,8×17,5 cm. Complete run of this unique publication with a radical approach to the HIV/AIDS crisis. A dark and disturbing take, edited by a group of 3 HIV positive white men from the Bay Area offering biting critique and unrelentless humor while documenting a bleak reality. Created by Beowulf Thorne and Tom Shearer ? and in an almost activist approach ? the publication turned the stigma associated with HIV serostatus into a point of collective identification and defiance. (?) Thorne and Shearer encouraged gay men to embrace their identities as ?diseased pariahs.? The zine?s campy humor, provocative tone, and irreverent imagery challenged dominant narratives that portrayed people living with HIV/AIDS in liberal sentimental terms as objects of sympathy and pity*.

The zine was published regularly between 1990 and 1995 with a final issue appearing in 1999 announcing the end of the publication along with the death of the second of its original creators Beowulf Thorne ? with Tom Shearer passing away in 1991 while putting together the second issue. An eccentric and indispensable work of harsh social critique and radical queer activism. All issues original except issue Nr. 1 which is a reprint made while the zine was active. All original printed OBI style bands accompanying the early issues are present. Issues consistenly Fine to Near Fine. Rare.

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*If mainstream visual cultures of public health relied on fear and disgust to discipline viewers, queer and HIV/AIDS activists turned to humor and irony to resist these sex-negative cultural mandates. The HIV zine Diseased Pariah News (1990-1999), or DPN for short, offers a striking example of how queer and HIV/AIDS activists contested homophobic and anti-erotic public health imagery. (?) One visual strategy that DPN creators used to challenge dominant depictions of HIV/AIDS was through the deployment of cute animals. (?) By parodying icons of cuteness, such as teddy bears and furry critters, Thorne and Shearer critiqued liberal discourses that robbed people living with HIV/AIDS of their individual and collective agency and depoliticized the epidemic. (?)
The zine?s mascot, the ?oncomouse,? exemplifies the zine?s visual activism. The oncomouse was a genetically engineered rodent designed to be more susceptible to cancer was a real byproduct of biomedical research and the first animal to be patented in the United States in 1988. DPN?s version of the oncomouse appears on the cover of the first issue and resembles a knock-off Mickey Mouse. Described by Thorne as a ?cute mousey,? the oncomouse represented the experience of HIV/AIDS patients who found themselves poked, prodded, and subjected to experimental and usually ineffective medical treatments. For DPN creators and readers, the cute oncomouse was not meant to evoke pity. Instead, the rodent was described as the ?perfect pet for people who like to feel sorry for something,? mocking the moral satisfaction that often accompanied liberal sympathy for people living with HIV/AIDS.(?) read more of this excellent piece on DPN by Nicholas Derda.

Seller Inventory # DPN/complete

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Diseased Pariah News (DPN) Complete Run of 11 issues, 1990-1999
• Publisher: self-published, San Francisco
• Publication Date: 1990
• Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Zines and Little Magazines
  • HIV/AIDS crisis?
  • Queer Studies
  • magazines
  • Undeground Networks