Abstract

This article seeks to analyze the ways in which medical discourse conceptualized and represented homosexuality in the years where HIV/AIDS emerged in Costa Rica. First, a theoretical reflection is made on the issue of sexuality as an object of study that constructs subjectivity at the same time. Then, an analysis of the journalistic discourses is made. The dynamics of power/knowledge in sexuality are articulated and institutionalized in the medical discourse through the media; in the case of Costa Rica both institutions, along with the Church, played a key role in the spread of abject images on male homosexuality. On the other hand, the medical discourse was not uniform; it is possible to find voices of resistance to the hegemonic position.

Keywords: Sexuality; homosexuality; medical discourse; religious discourse; AIDS