Name/Title
(1991) Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Inc., Safer Sex: Keep It Up! Poster, art direction by Don Eunson, United StatesDescription
Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Safer Sex: Keep It Up!, 1991
HIV prevention and safer sex education poster
Art direction: Don Eunson
Photography: Peter Urban
Layout design: Stephen de Francesco
Country: United States
Offset lithograph
This poster was produced by Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) in 1991 as part of its sex-positive HIV prevention campaigns. The photograph depicts two nude adult men in a tiled shower setting engaged in an intimate encounter. A condom is visibly worn and integrated into the scene, positioned centrally within the composition rather than obscured or symbolically implied. The headline “safer sex” appears across the top, while the slogan “Keep It Up!” functions as both directive and affirmation.
The work reflects GMHC’s early 1990s prevention strategy, which emphasized explicit, pleasure-affirming communication rather than fear-based or abstinence-oriented messaging. By employing imagery that draws on the visual conventions of erotic photography, the poster situates condom use within the context of desire and intimacy, asserting that safer sex practices are compatible with sexual pleasure. The inclusion of the GMHC hotline number, Spanish-language information line, and TDD access indicates an effort to reach diverse audiences within affected communities.
As a public health intervention, the poster documents a period in which community-based organizations developed harm-reduction approaches grounded in lived sexual realities. It stands as part of the historical record of AIDS-era visual culture, activist media production, and the articulation of sex-positive prevention during the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic.Create Date
July 29, 2025Update Date
October 15, 2026