UWG News Archive

Former Miss America to speak on campus

January 13, 2004

CARROLLTON, GA - 1998 Miss America Kate Shindle will appear at the University of West Georgia to give students some straight talk about AIDS on Wednesday, Jan. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in Kathy Cashen Hall of the Humanities Building.

Shindle selected HIV/AIDS awareness as her platform issue as her term as Miss America. From September 1997 to September 1998, she traveled roughly 20,000 miles per month to promote HIV prevention at schools and conferences across the country.

She has been called “the most controversial Miss America since Vanessa Williams met Penthouse,” because of the stances she advocates regarding HIV prevention. That controversy comes from her refusal to sugar-coat the message she shares with students, and her stance on the policy on needle exchange programs.

She shares disturbing statistics to validate her position, such as the fact that 63 percent of all AIDS cases among women are related to the sharing of needles, and 58 percent of pediatric AIDS cases are attributable to a parent’s drug use. “We can send a strong and lucid message condemning drugs use while still preserving lives that might be lost to AIDS,” she said.

In her presentation, “Crown and Condoms: Renewing Our Fight Against AIDS,” Shindle outlines the “conflict created by what, on one hand, is sincere desire to end the epidemic and on the other hand is a real reticence to talk about the issues that surround it.”

She is frustrated by the hang-ups related to words. A South Carolina school forbade her from saying ‘homosexual,’ ‘heterosexual,’ ‘gay,’ ‘straight,’ or ‘lesbian,’ talking about condoms, or mentioning needle exchange.

“There are still many communities taking what they affectionately refer to as ‘baby steps’ towards HIV prevention when they desperately need to be taking giant leaps,” Shindle said.
Describing the current high rate of HIV infection in the college-age demographic group as “terrifying and dangerous,” Shindle encourages students to take responsibility for themselves and their sexual activity.

She tells students that the most important step they can take is to avoid risky behaviors altogether. If they are not prepared to do that, she advocates using protection, getting tested if they think they have put themselves at risk, and acknowledging the additional risks posed by alcohol and drug use. By taking these steps students can help defend themselves against the threat of infection.

“Once we take responsibility for ourselves, I think that it is crucial to get involved in community service efforts,” she said. “Every day that we hesitate and try to figure out how to do this without offending anyone, 16,000 more people contract HIV. We know exactly how to stop every single one of those infections. The clock is ticking.”

For additional information about Shindle’s presentation, call Debra Dugan, UWG health educator, at 770-838-3214.

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