Abstract
This article examines the role of the condom in policy discourse about HIV/AIDS education in New York City in the early 1990s. Analysis of formal statements of policymakers and other actors engaged in this formative debate shows that abstinence advocates used the discursive mechanism of synecdoche to capture the terms of argumentation and advance their policy agenda. They viewed condoms as inappropriately granted “permission slips” for sexual activity and focused their argumentation on one aspect of HIV/AIDS preventive measures, a plan to make condoms available to the city’s high school students. Proponents of comprehensive HIV/AIDS education attempted to counter the condom synecdoche by reasserting the larger curriculum and falsifying the synecdoche’s logical basis. This analysis illuminates the dynamics of New York City’s HIV/AIDS education policy discourse, showing how it not only made the resolution of underlying value differences difficult but also reduced the effectiveness of HIV prevention and sex education policy making. The case study also provides insights to achieve greater discursive parity and the development of a more durable policy consensus.
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