Summary

Acquired from Professor Roger Short after his Crosbie Morrison Memorial Lecture for October 1991, held at at the Museum of Victoria.

Roger Short (1930-2021) was a reproductive biologist who moved to Melbourne from England in 1982 to take up a position at Monash University's Department of Physiology. Later he became Professorial Fellow in the University of Melbourne Medical School. His research interests varied over his career, but while working in Melbourne he had a particular interest in birth control, sex education and the social and ecological impacts of population growth. The title of his lecture 'Is Aids the Malthusian solution to Human Population Growth?' referenced the theories of Thomas Malthus, an economist who postulated that exponential human population growth and our consumption of natural resources will always and inevitably exceed what nature can provide. Malthus theorised that natural disasters, war, famine and disease were inevitable consequences brought about to restore natural balance. His theories have been criticised for a number of reasons, but especially because of their influence on racist and classist social policy and eugenics.

Physical Description

White t-shirt with Australian flag and three smiling anthropomorphic penises, each wearing a condom.

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