Editing ACT UP (section)

===''Cosmopolitan'' magazine===
In January 1988, ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'' magazine published an article by [[Robert E. Gould]], a psychiatrist, entitled "Reassuring News About AIDS: A Doctor Tells Why You May Not Be At Risk."<ref name="crimp1"/> The main contention of the article was that in unprotected vaginal sex between a man and a woman who both had "healthy genitals" the risk of HIV transmission was negligible, even if the male partner was infected. Women from ACT UP who had been having informal "dyke dinners" met with Gould in person, questioning him about several misleading facts (that penis to vagina transmission is impossible, for example) and questionable journalistic methods (no [[peer review]], bibliographic information, failing to disclose that he was a psychiatrist and not a practitioner of [[internal medicine]]), and demanded a retraction and apology.<ref name="maggenti1">Maggenti, Maria. Interview with Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard. ACTUP Oral History Project. February 16, 2005. MIX: The New York Lesbian & Gay Experimental Film Festival.  December 11, 2005, [http://www.actuporalhistory.org/interviews/images/maggenti.pdf Actupralhistory.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423235136/http://www.actuporalhistory.org/interviews/images/maggenti.pdf |date=2021-04-23 }}</ref> When he refused, in the words of Maria Maggenti, they decided that they "had to shut down Cosmo." According to those who were involved in organizing the action, it was significant in that it was the first time the women in ACT UP organized separately from the main body of the group.<ref name="carlomusto1">Carlomusto, Jean. Interview with Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard. ACTUP Oral History Project. February 16, 2005. MIX: The New York Lesbian & Gay Experimental Film Festival.  December 11, 2005, [http://www.actuporalhistory.org/interviews/images/carlomusto.pdf Actuporalhistory.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423213335/http://www.actuporalhistory.org/interviews/images/carlomusto.pdf |date=2021-04-23 }}</ref> Additionally, filming the action itself, the preparation and the aftermath were all consciously planned and resulted in a video short directed by [[Jean Carlomusto]] and [[Maria Maggenti]], titled, "Doctor, Liars, and Women: AIDS Activists Say No To Cosmo." The action consisted of approximately 150 activists protesting in front of the [[Hearst Tower (Manhattan)|Hearst Building]] (parent company of ''Cosmopolitan'') chanting "Say no to Cosmo!" and holding signs with slogans such as "Yes, the Cosmo Girl CAN get AIDS!"<ref name="crimp1"/> Although the action did not result in any arrests, it brought significant television media attention to the controversy surrounding the article. [[Phil Donahue]], ''Nightline'', and a local talk show called "People Are Talking" all hosted discussions of the article. On the latter, two women, Chris Norwood and Denise Ribble took the stage after the host, [[Richard Bey]], cut Norwood off during an exchange about whether heterosexual women are at risk from AIDS.<ref>Treichler, Paula. ''How To Have Theory In An Epidemic''. Duke University Press, 1999. (Discussion of the Cosmopolitan controversy and media representation)</ref>