Mutants and HIV

[protogarrett]

 The controversial scene.

Tags: Char:Paige Guthrie/Husk, Char: Nurse Annie, Group: X-Men


She says that it's because mutant genetics and the HIV virus aren't compatible.

Now for a long time I had serious issues with this scene. However, now that I mull it over it doesn't bother me. Look at it this way; mutants aren't humans, thus why would a disease that affects humans affect them? Yes, we've seen mutants with cancer and the flu but that doesn't mean every disease would cross species. Yes, there might be other implications here and all kinds of subtext, depending what he author intended and what the reader wants to invest based on his or her experiences.

Plus, the two HIV positive people I know enjoyed it as it brought the topic of HIV/AIDS to the forefront and got a lot of people to talk about it. Furthermore, their response was, "Well, she isn't human. Plus all mutants also look like supermodels, so obviously the genes are a bit different."

So... yeah. My two cents.

Would love to hear other ideas, but if we can keep it from a flame and hate thread and actually discuss the topic at hand, that would be great. Let's avoid Austen hate, Nurse Annie hate, etc. and sticl to the proposed issue. 

Comments

[skalja]

It's pretty obvious that the writers who came up with the "mutantness is caused by one gene" and "mutants are a different species" concepts really didn't think it through. If mutants are a different species because of one gene, then what about real people with genetic mutations, some of which encompass thousands of genes?