Doctors, Liars and Women: AIDS Activists Say No to Cosmo

Presented only in theatres.

This film is part of the FIFA Expérimental program Les 50 ans du Groupe Intervention Vidéo – GIV.

In 1990, I began doing research to make a video that would focus on women and HIV in Montréal, and in 1991, I co-directed Les autres with Petunia Alves. By the late 1980s, I saw several examples of what I began to think of as the New York City AIDS Activist Tapes in gay and lesbian film festivals. I studied those tapes. They exerted a huge influence on me. One of those videos was Doctors, Liars and Women: AIDS Activists Say No to Cosmo directed by Jean Carlomusto and Maria Maggenti. The sense of outrage and urgency in their video was palpable.
Jean Carlomusto and Maria Maggenti appear onscreen in their video. They are part of the story they are telling. Videos like Doctors, Liars and Women are made from the inside. AIDS activist videos are characterized by the fact that the makers are part of a movement, are activists as well as artists. Videotapes in this grouping are often made with a sense of urgency. Doctors, Liars and Women was made to push back, to counter the fact that Cosmopolitan published potentially life-threatening information about heterosexual intercourse directed specifically at women. Dr. Robert E. Gould, the author of the article, is questioned about his qualifications and methodology. The two directors of Doctors, Liars and Women employ a tactic to be understood by viewers as experts in activism. Both Carlomusto and Maggenti then choose to identify themselves as AIDS Activists.
In the history of HIV/AIDS activism, I am grateful for the fact that countless people became well versed about topics such as medications, treatment options, drug trials, education campaigns and activist tactics, among many other areas of focus. Their research and activism helped save lives. When I watch Doctors, Liars and Women: AIDS Activists Say No to Cosmo now, I still feel excitement and admiration. When a so-called expert is taken down by activists who have educated themselves thoroughly, it is a thing of beauty.
– Anne Golden, guest programmer

Director’s statement:
An exciting and empowering tape documenting women AIDS activists as they confront the doctor and editors responsible for the printing of a misleading and deadly Cosmopolitan article about women and HIV transmission. Looking at issues of class, race and gender, this work produced by Jean Carlomusto and Maria Maggenti takes AIDS into political realms revealing the neglect by the medical establishment.