Please stop and think about this: Young Black gay and bisexual men are becoming infected with HIV at “alarming” rates every year in America – EVERY YEAR – and for some reason there does not appear to be the collective will to intervene and DO SOMETHING! The CDC sounds the alarm, AIDS activists sound the alarm, various responsible news outlets sound the alarm – but the alarm seems to be falling on deaf ears. It feels very much like the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, as documented by Rand Shilts in And the Band Played On when gays were sounding the alarm, screaming from the rooftops – but society and the Reagan administration did nothing – though they sprang into action over the Legionnaires outbreak. Black gay AIDS activist Phill Wilson, who’s been HIV positive since the early/mid-80s, got it right when he said about AIDS in Black America in 2006: “If these were white college students with 50% infection rates, this would be on the news every night. But it’s poor black men and women, so nobody cares.”
Today, there is more information about HIV/AIDS than ever before and there are new treatments available – but the CDC still says it doesn’t know why these infection rates are so high. Or, really, what to do about it – something they’ve said repeatedly, using the same language each year in their press releases. Given the economy, they announced they’re now going to target specific communities with the money they’ve been allocated.
– Karen Ocamb writing about the recent report from the Center for Disease Control revealing 51 percent of all HIV infections among blacks occur among men who have sex with men (MSM). Regardless of race, MSM ages 13-29 accounted for 27 percent of all new infections in 2009.
Image via
jason
This is yet another example of the obscene racial and sexual profiling that is undertaken by the CDC. I’ve never known of any illness to be race- or orientation-specific. There may be one or two that are genetic in origin – and thus might be more prevalent in a particular race – but I’ve never known of an acquired illness (such as AIDS) to be acquired only by a particular group of people in society.
Perhaps what all this says is that the CDC engages in racial and sexual profiling for the purpose of cheap headlines and victimhood pandering. By doing this, the CDC is actually encouraging homophobia and racism.
Sam
It’s insulting to make this a race issue. As a gay male with HIV, I know the stigma and lack of concern from government and society about the disease.
I have noticed more public service announcements targeted towards my brothers of color. I commend the organizations that are not afraid to take on the recent rise in minority HIV cases.
I don’t believe the rising HIV trend is caused by racism. I believe it is caused by a lack of access to information and education about the disease and it’s continuing prevalence among black, Latino and other racial and ethnic populations, and cultural stigma, as well.
QJ201
@jason: Okay Jason we read the same blogs and you’ve posted this same comment elsewhere.
This is not racial profiling. This is standard practice in public health. For EVERY disease tracked by the CDC, demographic profiles are created. Technically, this is called ‘categorizing’ and yes, it can be twisted unseemly ways. Regardless, the purpose is to identify groups in which an infection or disease is spreading so prevention efforts can be targeted.
Racial/ethnic categories aside, HIV prevention dollars in the US have never been proportionally distributed for identified at risk groups. Gay/bi/msm have never accounted for less than 50% of HIV/AIDS cases in the US for 3 decades and NEVER has 50% of the HIV/AIDS funding been specifically allocated for prevention in our communities.
Armand
I am surprised the race card was pulled out so soon by commenters.
Thanks QJ201.
Catmann
This is “Alarming” and downright sad news. Especially when one considers that blacks make up only 12-13% of the entire U.S population and then gay/bisexual black men make up even less yet they account for nearly half of all new infections!
With that said, this is not the early 1980’s nor some third world country, everyone and I mean EVERYONE in this country has heard to some extent about how HIV is transmitted and ways to prevent it, i.e. condoms! By no means am I suggesting in any way shape form or fashion that ANYONE deserves to be infected with HIV but at some point we, all gay men and especially black gay/bi sexual men have to take some responsibility and take care/protect OURSELVES!We cannot blame the CDC, the media or the government for this at this point in the fight against HIV /AIDS!
So no, disgaree if the rate were this high with gay white men, I don’t think and cannot see what more the government could do other than more media coverage.
Amber024
The government doesn’t even want gays to marry; let alone black gays. There’s no doubt that they could care less about black gays with AIDS. It’s not pulling the “race card”. It’s speaking the truth!
Henry
The CDC doesn’t know what to do? It’s not rocket science. The first thing that needs to be done is to get the word out. The statistics need to be shared with as many people as possible. Information about HIV need to be taught in the classroom and at seminars for adults. People need to be taught about safe sex.
ewe
I will answer your question “would people care more if they were white.” NO. People would care more if they were heterosexual. Bingo. Been here done this.
Fitz
Haven’t read the study– not even the abstract of it. But I have a question-
does anyone know if they have ruled out if there are racially-based differences in seroconversion? It’s just a question, because we know that there are other things that are slightly different. Like reactions to ace-inhibitors tends to be worse for AAs, for example. It’s much more likely that these #s reflect a lack of support and education and respect, but I wonder.
Noah
God it’s a horrible disease 🙁 I’m only 17 and I’ve only ever been with one guy, he was in his 40’s and fat and I didn’t even find him attractive. worst mistake of my life. I found out that I know have Herpes 🙁 I’ve had a constant outbreak for months, it’s making me sooooo depressed on top of the depression I had before and my friends are all dick heads and Im addicted to alcohol and I hate the way I look and for all I know I could have fucking HIV as well
Cam
@jason: said…
“This is yet another example of the obscene racial and sexual profiling that is undertaken by the CDC. I’ve never known of any illness to be race- or orientation-specific. There may be one or two that are genetic in origin – and thus might be more prevalent in a particular race – but I’ve never known of an acquired illness (such as AIDS) to be acquired only by a particular group of people in society.”
_____________________
Jason, unless you have a link that shows that the CDC is lying about the percentages then what you are doing is dangerous. You are claiming that they are lying about this, which means you are basically telling young black males that they shouldn’t be worried about this because it’s a lie.
All they are doing is reporting who is getting what.
As for whether or not people would care more if the majority of the AIDS victims were white. Well that was the case in the 80’s and 90’s and I think we saw back then that nobody in govt. gave a shit either. If they hate gays, they don’t care if they are white gays or black gays.
Ron
Oh Lord! All I can think is that I’m a young gay black man, who after losing my virginity has been as promiscuous as many of my white peers (both straight and gay), still protect myself and don’t have the virus, but this is just going to make it harder than it already is for me to find love in a community that is already racially prejudiced when it comes to actually dating. I’m going to go from hearing: “I’ll let you fuck me because you have a massive cock, but you can’t be my boyfriend cuz i’m not attracted to black guys” to Now hearing, “i don’t date black guys because not only do you have a girlfriend, 2 baby mamas and no job, but according to the CDC you also most likely have Aids.” Ugh. fml. The CDC needs to extend some hardcore NON STOP education to ‘da hood’ because a huge cause of the problem is that homophobia is prevalent amongst gay black men on the so called DL and continues to dim the light on the joys of real monogamous gay relationships and the dangers of concealed sexual proclivities. This is probably the f**cked up reason why i choose to fuck outside my own race for fear of encountering the possible truth behind these stereotypes that degrade the colour of my skin and perpetuate self-hatred amongst innocent and upstanding gay black men like myself.
Jack
Aw Ron I love Black men, and you sound like a really nice smart guy, if only I lived in America 🙁 do you like Irish guys? 😀
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jeff4justice
Karen Ocamb seems to be an awesome activist.
However, Karen is a contribution to Frontiers in LA, part of Frontiers Media LLC.
In a recent issue of Frontiers 4 Men and also on the Frontiers 4 Men web site, there have been numerous examples of condomless sex depictions.
I emailed Karen on Facebook and the Frontiers editors and publisher. She never replied. However, after a month of trying to reach these people, I was finally assured that it was a one-time accident by the publisher.
After looking at the site, it appears as though Frontiers has removed the vid links to BB vids from their web site. Publisher David Stern also emailed me and stated that they have a written policy against accepting ads for BB sex content now.
That’s great! However, it would have been nice if they also removed or added some notes of caution on their personals site regarding allowing “sometimes” and “always” regarding condoms as options in their personals section on the web site.
What’s more, after recently publishing a movie review glamorizing BB profiteers Maverick Men, it would be nice to see them use their contact with those guys to have a real dialogue with them calling them on their bullshit defense of condomless sex in their vids.
You can learn more about this by watching:
Condomless Sex Glorified By Mainstream LGBT Company
http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?sq=bareback
Gay Glorifying Of Bareback Sex
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VzaC5LgJEY
Sed
Gay black males actually have a higher not lower rate of condom use than other ethnic groups just in case you were wondering. So obviously education isn’t the problem.
“Interestingly, studies have also demonstrated that Black men are also more
likely to report higher rates of condom use than men in other ethnic groups
(Anderson et al. 1999; Ku, Sonenstein, and Pleck 1992; Pleck, Sonenstein,
and Ku, 1994). The AGI (2002) attributes the disparity between Black men’s
reported higher rates of condom use and their simultaneous reported incidence
of higher rates of STI infections to a variety of factors, such as the
greater likelihood for Black men to receive care from publicly funded clinics
that are more likely to have complete STI reporting systems than private physicians”
Perhaps Fitz is on the right track.
Samwise
@Sed: I was just going to post that! I also read somewhere that descendents of people who were exposed to – but survived – the Black Death are less likely to seroconvert.
Just one more reason why we as a society have to stop looking at HIV/AIDS through a moral lens. Sometimes our biology makes us more or less susceptible to infection, regardless of how responsibly we act.
@Noah: Oh, honey. :::hugs::: Go get tested, now. Then please get help for your depression. I’ve struggled with it myself and I promise you, things are not as dark as they appear to be now. You CAN get through this. Some therapy and antidepressants can do wonders.
Tackle
I’m no fan of Jason but I do agree with him somewhat on this subject. The CDC does have a history of racial and sexual profiling and it does encourage homophobia. What amazes me is how people believe these stats without question.
The stats they released do not hold up under scrunity. And if people only knew how they conduct and take surveys they will see how race based they are.
OK this particular one supppposedly involved young gay men between 13-29 yrs old. But what they are not telling you is this study was conducted in Mississippi using a majority of black men in poor areas in their survey during a three yr period. So blacks were oversampled. The CDC crunches numbers to arrive at estimates that supposedlly applies to all black men in that age group in the United States. And many times thoes sampled repersent a very small number.
To get an accurate number of who is really being infected, they would have to get an sample of the general population at large.Example 1000, blacks, whites, hispinics and others. Not using 80 percent blacks, 15 percent hispanics and 5 percent white. Of course the ratio of blacks will show a higher infection rate. And interesting the CDC admitted along with this study, that black gay and bisexual men in this age group are no more sexually active than whites. Are less likely to use stimulants/drugs than whites. And are no more likely to have or do risky sexual behavior, Hummm… The question That I ask, if the CDC has to lie and manipulate numbers, what is their agenda and what are they hiding in regards to who really has what??
jason
The only time you should profile an illness is if it’s a genetic one. No other illness should be profiled. By sexually and racially profiling AIDS, the CDC is engaging in an outrageous act of homophobia and racism.
I have no problem with the CDC saying that promiscuous, unprotected sexual activity will increase the risk of you catching an illness. That is a fair and logical thing to say. But to use words like “gay men are at high risk of catching AIDS” is another thing altogether. It is illogical and incorrect. The CDC is basically saying that how you identify sexually determines your chances of catching an illness. It’s a disgusting thing to say.
The CDC is, perhaps inadvertently, contributing to a lot of homophobia and racism. No wonder the Blood Bank bans gay men and bisexual men from giving blood. The CDC feeds into the irrational fear of gay and bisexual men.
jason
Tackle,
I hadn’t read your post when I wrote my post at number 19 just above but you hit the nail on the head. The CDC is engaging in false, misleading – and ultimately malicious – number crunching.
It is INCREDIBLE that a large number of gay and bisexual men accept the crap that comes from the CDC. Absolutely INCREDIBLE.
jason
Here’s some basic math for those who need an insight into how the CDC manipulates percentages to create its narrative. In order to come up with an epidemiological percentage, you need to know two quantities, one being the quantity of people suffering from a particular illness and the other being the total number of people, ill and well.
Let’s look at the second quantity. How does the CDC know the number of gay men – ill and well – in our society? It doesn’t. It’s quite probable that the CDC has simply estimated. One thing you need to understand is that the smaller the estimate, the greater is the percentage figure that will be arrived at.
For instance, if I diagnose 6 Martians as suffering from disease X, I can come up with – depending on my estimate of the total number of Martians in the world – vastly different percentages of Martians in general suffering from disease X. If, for instance, I estimate that there are a total of 100 Martians in the world, my percentage of Martians suffering from disease X will be 6%. If my estimate of the the total number of Martians is 1000, my percentagae will decrease to 0.6%, a vastly reduced percentage.
Queerty readers – and the GLBT community in general – needs to be very, very aware of this.
In any case, let’s put aside my logical and correct points about how percentage figures can be manipulated and distorted. Let’s look at this simple and irrefutable fact: AIDS is an acquired illness, not a genetic one. There is thus no justification for the CDC to link our orientation to an acquired illness. If homosexuality was caused by a gene that co-existed with a unique AIDS-causing gene, then, yes, you could link it, but it’s clearly not the case.
Message to the GLBT community: stop sleeping at the wheel. You are being maligned and demonized by the CDC. Message to the CDC: fuck off.
Fitz
I 100% disagree about the racial profiling fear.
It’s useful for your personal planning, and for your
doctor, to be alert to anything which needs extra attention for you.
There really are some disorders and some reactions to meds
which have a racial component. A doctor would be negligent to
not consider these factors as part of their history taking.
I think I am vigilant about racism, but it’s not the same
thing to acknowledge an issue and target a response.
There are huge problems with any study like this. The biggest
is that they rely on self-reporting. People kid themselves all the time.
I would like to see, now that we have some meds, (bracing for the shit storm..)
everyone get mandatory testing at every ER visit, every routine doctor’s office visit
and even with every enrollment in public benefits and school. Message to the CDC: be MORE aggressive!
It’s just too stupid to not know. It’s just too expensive for society
to let you wait until you are very ill to find out.
If you aren’t 100% sure of your status, go get a damn test. TODAY.
If you are positive, there are meds which should help you stay healthy.
If you are negative, you can start with a clean slate and choose new
behaviors.
jason
Fitz,
I don’t know of any medicine that has side-effects on one particular race but not another. If you have any specific details, please share them.
If there were, of course it’s important to know. But that is totally different from the profiling of sexual orientation vis a vis AIDS.
Fitz
Jason- I gave one earlier… the whole class of ACE-inhibitors. (a blood pressure med).
Anything that ends in …pril.
You can probably google it. It’s counter indicated for AAs. It can cause the same
can effects in cauc, but not frequently. Almost all AAs will have adverse reactions to it.
Also, not a medication, but alcohol. Got to get cleaned up for work, can’t look up the citations.. but ETOH withdrawal is much faster and more severe in Cauc. over AAs, and requires more aggressive medical intervention.
This isn’t a political football, just the best we can do with healthcare.
CHYKOLAETHAI
Miss Queerty, Miss Queerty. Girl why???? If a black dude ain’t DL then of course we must have AIDS..
Jewed Law
Despite the seriousness of this topic, I can’t help but laugh at the blame game going on here. Seems the consensus is that the government is responsible for the spread of disease, not the actions of the individual. Such twisted logic. I lived in San Francisco in the 80s, and trust me, very few of us were responsible enough to use condoms—VERY few. It was shocking, actually, considering I moved there from D.C., where everyone was super-conscious of playing it safe. That is why HIV spread, not because of Ronald Reagan.
No, the situation here is simple mathematics: You play fast and loose and carefree with fire, you’re going to get burned. People with HIV knew it was out there, and they chose to take a risk, and now they’re suffering. It’s sad and unneccessary, but it’s not a governmental conspiracy.
Cam
@Tackle: said…
“The stats they released do not hold up under scrunity. And if people only knew how they conduct and take surveys they will see how race based they are.
OK this particular one supppposedly involved young gay men between 13-29 yrs old. But what they are not telling you is this study was conducted in Mississippi using a majority of black men in poor areas in their survey during a three yr period. So blacks were oversampled. The CDC crunches numbers to arrive at estimates that supposedlly applies to all black men in that age group in the United States. And many times thoes sampled repersent a very small number.”
_____________________________-
If true, your statement is interesting. Please link to the information that backs up your comment. Otherwise, why should your statement be believed anymore than you are telling us not to believe the CDC?
Jimmy100
So if I want to stay HIV- I should stay away from black guys?This will help black homophobes because the rise in HIV is in gay black men so if they stop having raw gay sex they will be all right.
robert in nyc
Of course, if this were primarily a white hetero disease, there would be a different reaction and probably no stigma associated with it. Overall though, worldwide, HIV is now becoming an overhwelmingly hetero disease on the African continent and the far east, but then they’re not white.
Fitz
@Jimmy100: Yes. Please stay away from the black guys. Nothing to do with HIV… I’m just getting old, and don’t need the competition.
Mike in Asheville
@jason: Well, once again Jason is as full of shit spouting off with pulling his so-called “facts” out of his ass.
So Jason, tell us ANYWHERE the evidence of the mass conspiracy to vilify gays and blacks by the CDC?
There were 11 senior scientists supervising the data collection and analysis, representing the following organizations: Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention; National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; The Ginn Group/Northrop. In addition, there were more than 100 assistants, graduate students, etc.
Somewhere above the claim was made that the data was collected in Mississippi. NOT TRUE. Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington; additional data was also collected in Chicago and Philadelphia.
The link provided in the article will take you to both the press release from the CDC and their link to the full PEER REVIEW STUDY. Peer Review, meaning that every gay (and straight) college/university medical and/or statistics professor WHO DO UNDERSTAND the medical and statistical analysis.
The notion that the CDC and NIH should not conduct demographics about a disease is SO FUCKING STUPID, SO FUCKING IDIOTIC — HIV/AIDS was first colloquially know as “gay cancer” because doctors in NYC and SF began reporting a previously unknown disease affecting their gay male patients. Though the government failed miserably to inform the public about the disease, that is, in essence, what would happen in the future when the government fails to take into account the demographics again.
Lastly, Jason jumps onto the idiocy that HIV is not the cause of AIDS. Well, for the more than 2 dozen friends who funerals I attended in the 80-90s, including my cousin, each one died of AIDS and each had HIV viral load in excess of 100,000 copies cc.
@Cam: Cam called Jason’s idiocy dangerous — indeed very dangerous for both understanding prevention and treatment.
Dave Smith
@Ron:
Nope, Ron you already feel self-hatred for yourself. That’s why you seek to put your massive black cock in the dirty, worm-infested hole of any, and I mean ANY, white guy. There are so many like you, it’s pathetic. So, yes, your options for dating are limited. But, this is only because you and the other black queens obsessed with dating white men (despite the fact that you ADMIT you can’t find a white boyfriend, but only white fuck buddies) instead of trying to date the real quality black men who view you as beautiful. You hate yourself, buddy. And, you can’t see beauty in other black men. Grow the fuck up and stop it with the woe is me routine.
ewe
@robert in nyc: Oh RobertNYC: i absolutely adore you. I have no doubt you know that gay people were always just collateral damage. Evil sinister forces are very real. While we receive accurate scientific results out of the CDC most people ignore the symptoms.
Armand
@Ron: Child, it pains me to read your comment. Do you have a horrible preference for what we call ignorant assholes?
Are you attracted to pain and humiliation?
If a man discriminates you because you are Black and is afraid you might have HIV/AIDS–move on!
There are fine gentleman out there that will treat you right. You may not realize. You just need a whole lotta confidence and a lil bit of glitter.
zrocqs
@Noah: Noah, if you’re still checking this post, please call this phone #: 1-866-488-7386. It’s for an organization called The Trevor Project. The person who answers the phone will listen and answer any questions you have. Take as much time as you need, no worries, it’s a toll free call. They can help.
zrocqs
As to the original question: “Would people care more if they were white?” The question should be: Would more people care if they were white? (Read it again. These are two different questions.) Simple answer: Yes unfortunately. True answer: Depends mostly on age and frequency of church attendance. Demographically speaking: Younger (under 30) = concern without race-bias; average church attendance once per week or more = racially biased and homophobic. Sorry, but its true.
Ron
@Jack:
Hi Jack, i do like all types of men including irish and I’m actually in england… 😉
Ron
@Dave Smith: Point taken Dave, but if you passed your SATs and could comprehend the entirety of what I wrote you would have notice that I made no reference to wanting to date only white men. I specifically said men outside my race meaning asian, indian, hispanic, middle eastern and in some cases purely African (because so much of the DL culture is attributed to ‘african american’ culture and this is where I would imagine the recorded high HIV rates increase because of internal prejudice) Also, it is the same bigoted tone you have in your writing that is so prevalent in the gay community making it harder for men like myself to find love. If “there are so many like me (assuming you understand me better than i understand myself),” then perhaps the problem is more deeply rooted, than in something as cut and dry as black men wanting “worm infested white holes”. You need to exercise your brain, think things through, consider socio-economic backgrounds and the dynamics that create certain patterns before you spew hateful words of utter garbage. I’m assuming you’re a “a real quality black man who would view me as beautiful” because if you aren’t, you probably have no real insight into the matter and need to stop measuring your life based on what you’ve witnessed at your nearest gay club. And if you are, all black men are better off without your kind because you are clearly a shameful example.
Ron
@Jack: Thanks Jack, I’m not in the USA at the moment and I love all types of guys including Irish guys…;)
Ron
@Jewed Law: i think you’re right, but the question is whether or not the governments reaction would be more forceful in helping eradicate this plight were it a (white? ) heterosexual epidemic.
James
People of all orientations (gay/hetero/bisexual) and genders (male/female) are getting HIV because they’re not using condoms or having safer sex and many people have the notion that “HIV won’t happen to me!” or “I only do (insert unsafe sexual activity) with (insert person/people) so I’m not at risk!” and it’s not like the 80s when people were dying very fast of AIDS. Some people are also deluded thinking that “Well if I become HIV+ I can just go on meds!” and don’t realize that HIV meds are very expensive and have some not so fun side effects.
Bareback porn also may have something to do with this. I don’t watch the stuff that people like Mason Wyler, creepy Jake Cruise and the men in his porn company that all do it raw, and the Treasure Island people do since it’s a turn off.
I have gay male friends who are black and they use condoms, don’t swallow or take cum in their mouth and spit it out if they do take it, and if they have a cut/sore in their mouth they don’t give oral sex. My gay black male friends-some of who have been having sex with men since the middle of the AIDS pandemic have never barebacked and the only person who they might consider barebacking if they ever did hypothetically do it would be a partner who they have fidelity with and who they are monogamous with.
Meanwhile my white gay male friends all except for one who lived in the SF bay area for a decade have all barebacked, don’t use condoms, swallow semen, give oral sex to just about anyone, and some of my older gay white male friends were active before HIV/AIDS and survived the start of the HIV/AIDS pandemic yet they still bareback.
I’ve met A LOT of white men in their 20s who think that it’s safe to be a bareback top, that it’s 1,000% safe to swallow cum, or that just one HIV test means that someone’s actually HIV neg when that’s not true. Then there are guys who are bareback bottoms and who probably are HIV+ but they claim that they’re neg.
I’m bisexual and I’ve never done it bare/raw with any man or woman and if I use sex toys in someone I use condoms on those and they’re cleaned with soap and water and then put into bleach. I don’t engage in rimming at all but when I give oral sex I don’t use dental dams on women or condoms on men but again I only give oral sex to people who are my partners and that’s after we’ve discussed our sexual history, been tested, and are in a relationship. I personally have a hard time (no pun) trusting people sexually since I’m used to men and women lying to me and I knew people who I knew were HIV+ but they would lie about it and tell everyone that they were neg just so they could have sex with them or do it bareback.
Ron-A LOT of men in so called “monogamous” relationships cheat on each other. I wish it were not true but I’ve seen this happen more times than I can count. I even have friends who have told me how they’ve cheated on their partners or they had partners who they thought were monogamous who cheated on them.
I’m not saying that there are not men in completely monogamous relationships but even among straight people there’s a lot of cheating while people are claiming to be monogamous.
Ganondorf
AIDS is a big downer. Don’t wanna read about NO FRIGGIN’ AIDS. HIV/AIDS, booohoooo. Wear a condom until you mack with a dude who knows that you will kill him if he gives you the hiv. WILL FUCKING KILL HIM!!!!!! LIVE OR DIE, MOTHERFUCKER! YOUR CHOICE!
James
Forgot to add this:
My Hetero friends of all age ranges/genders/races don’t use condoms, don’t get tested, and think that HIV isn’t something that they have to worry about at all.
I’ve told them in casual conversation how I get tested and have safer sex and they’ve said things like, “That’s not something that I have to worry about!” or they’ll say, “Why did you get tested for syphilis? You’re not that big of a slut!” No I’m not promiscuous but I still get tested yearly.
When I have sex with people I assume that they’re HIV+ or could be or they could have other STDs and I still have safer sex with them.
lash
I think its interesting that once you label sexual orientation and race it limits our understanding of HIV. For example, so many people are talking about condom usage, but last time I checked there is more than one way to get HIV.
James
Lash that’s true, IV drug use is VERY common despite what people think and even though there are needle/IV exchanges if you abuse IV drugs and you’re with other people and there’s only one rig/IV and everyone wants to get high it will be shared amongst them.