As Monkeypox Cases Rise, The Internet Argues About What Narrative To Use For It

As monkeypox case numbers rise across the United States and the world, policymakers and everyday citizens are confronting how to frame the illness, leading to many arguments online.

Monkeypox, which is spread through intimate physical contact, appears to be most prevalent among men who have sex with other men — but according to many, labeling it a “gay disease” is neither accurate nor productive.

Monkeypox can spread not only through sex but also through the sharing of clothes and personal space. It can spread anytime one human’s skin rubs close to another human’s skin, which means sex is definitely a major route of transmission — but far from the only one.

congratulations, doctors, you convinced the fact-averse general public that monkeypox virus is an STD, despite the fact that you can catch it through aerosol transmission and second-hand contact with infected material or saliva, like on a shared cup or juice box.

— miserable little pile of egrets (@heyMAKWA) July 23, 2022

Media coverage of the epidemic has reminded many of the early coverage of AIDS in the 1980s, in which, because the disease was labeled as “gay,” the government and media obstructed research and awareness of its spread, contributing to many deaths and lasting trauma.

this monkeypox breakout is going to be very ugly when it "suddenly" explodes into the general population. the messaging around it currently is horrendously irresponsible. painting it as an sti that affects queer men is going to lead some very dark places that we have seen before.

— excessively black ✡️ (@afrodesiaq) July 20, 2022

Many posters brought up a tweet by Marjorie Taylor Greene falsely implying that the spread of monkeypox to children is evidence of molestation. Some fear the emergence of a new right-wing narrative that will paint teachers and caretakers of children as “groomers” when children contract monkeypox.

A number of kids will likely get sick as the school year begins again and the epidemic grows more widespread, and there are fears that LGBTQ people may become targets of violence if a segment of the population perceives them as causing the disease. Already, this year has seen hate crimes increase as the groomer narrative spread on rightwing media and offered an opportunity for Republican governors like Ron DeSantis and their legislatures to push for anti-LGBTQ laws.

Now we have sitting members of congress making a false connection between monkeypox and child sexual abuse. This is so incredibly dangerous and will result in violence against LGBTQ people.

Monkeypox is not a STI. pic.twitter.com/fIu3hEazn7

— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) July 24, 2022

this just might be me connecting two unrelated topics, but it feels like the rightwing obsession with “groomers” and “monkeypox being an STI” is a way for the right to continue to pummel on schools and teachers since they’re often the only safe place for queer youth in red states

— transgender marx (@JUNlPER) July 25, 2022

i feel like those of us in queer communities know what "monkeypox plus the queerphobia increase is bad news" means but not a lot of people are explicitly saying "this going to explode in daycares and schools and people will blame queer/LGBT people and murder them"

— nora, resurrected (@NoraReed) July 23, 2022

As is often the case, a micro-debate about the Twitter posting behavior of a blue-checkmarked journalist raged within this larger and more significant debate about an epidemic. On July 16th, journalist Benjamin Ryan replied to a viral tweet about an academic’s typo (accidentally replacing “men who have sex with men” with “men who have sex with me”) saying he might steal it.

Need to do a better job proof-reading my CV. Seems I've had a paper on there on "undiagnosed STIs among men who have sex with me" for the past year. 👌

— Valerie Earnshaw, PhD (@UDStigmaLab) July 16, 2022

Ryan then went on to steal it, leading many online to accuse him of faking the typo for clout and also of spreading misinformation. The debate got ugly fast.

Why in the world haven't all my typo tweets garnered me national fame and thousands of followers? Twitter is hopelessly broken! #monkeypox #typogate https://t.co/VUGvsEufFy

— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) July 25, 2022

On other corners of Twitter, posters expressed their fears via memes as monkeypox case counts continued to increase.

Covid showing monkey pox around the workplace pic.twitter.com/WMLxcgHwdU

— PAPAO 2.0 (@james_hunnn) June 25, 2022

monkey pox pictures making me scared to breathe like this can’t be fr pic.twitter.com/YoCzFG9Jmk

— sarah lugor! (@sarahlugor) July 25, 2022

So far, however, nobody has died of monkeypox and there are just under 2,600 cases in the U.S.