The International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada this week (August 15-19) attracted more than 24,000 activists, policymakers and scientists to reflect and strategise on responses to the global pandemic. Celebrities such as Bill and Melinda Gates, Bill Clinton and Richard Gere, brought much needed public attention and media to the feminization of HIV/AIDS, however, it also highlighted the danger of having these personalities dominate the discourse and promote a depoliticized analysis of women's rights, as was often witnessed in Toronto this week.