Donald Trump Jr. once again demonstrated his lack of intellectual capacity over the weekend when he derided a Queerty story about not sexually discriminating against HIV-positive people.
“Well I can think of one thing,” Trump tweeted on Saturday in response to an article titled “What you stand to lose by not having sex with people with HIV.”
Sadly, 41-year-old Don Jr.’s stigma-reenforcing ignorance is nothing new, nor is it unique to people of his generation, who came of age during the height of the AIDS epidemic, throughout the 1980s and into the early ’90s. A new study has found that the stigma surrounding HIV is still going strong and that younger adults remain largely uneducated on the matter.
A total of 1,596 individuals between the ages of 18 and 36 participated in the study, which was conducted by the pharmaceutical company Merck between June and August of this year. The purpose of the study was to gauge attitudes and perceptions around HIV among younger adults in the United States.
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Despite there being zero risk of HIV transmission through casual contact, researchers found that 28% of HIV-negative millennials surveyed said they still avoided hugging, talking to, or being friends with someone who was HIV-positive, while 30% said they would would prefer not to interact in any way whatsoever with someone who was poz.
Unsurprisingly, 76% of respondents living with HIV said they would be hesitant to share their status for fear of being judged, while 90% said they have avoided sharing their status for fear of losing friends or family, or experiencing mental, physical, or emotional abuse.
Additionally, 39% of poz Gen Z and 28% of poz millennials reported having trouble forming new romantic or sexual relationships due to their status, while 84% of poz Gen Z and 65% of poz millennials reported abstaining entirely from sex because of their HIV status.
“Despite scientific advances and decades of HIV advocacy and education, the findings highlight a disturbing trend: young adults overwhelmingly are not being informed effectively about the basics of HIV,” says Bruce Richman, founding executive director of Prevention Access Campaign and the Undetectable Equals Untransmittable (U=U) campaign.
“These findings are a call to action that the crisis in the United States is far from over. It’s time to elevate a real conversation about HIV and sexual health among America’s young people, and roll out innovative and engaging initiatives to educate and fight HIV stigma.”
Related: Donald Trump Jr. slams Queerty for fighting HIV stigma
Hdtex
The feeling is mutual. As an HIV positive man, I won’t hug nor be friends with Millenials.
GetMeets.com
I agree with you!
But I’m not sure if gays really exist!
How can you not like a beautiful female body?
If you think you are gay, just go to the page that appears in my nickname! This is a world famous social network, I am sure that there will be free girls from your area! Just copy my nickname 🙂
Waiting for you there.
evanxx
Ignorance + Homophobia = STIGMA
How can a generation raised with the internet at their fingertips be so stupid?
Chrisk
They need another study. What % would avoid the 28% polled? I’d say at least 60%.
Of coarse you can find similar studies on those millennial’s that avoid people over a certain weight, economic status, color, etc…No one ever said we didn’t have our share of conceited assholes.
tf3.0
Do we really want new people to be living with this unfortunate shame, ostracization, fear?
We should do everything in our power to stop the disease from spreading.
Nobody should be forced to live like a leper.
Humans are genetically programmed to avoid those with signs of disease.Our earliest ancestors who did not do everything in their power to avoid disease, succumbed to it.
Those who did had their genes propagated.
We cannot so drastically destigmatize HIV that people do not fear getting it. The only 100% sure way not to get it is to abstain from sex.
mountainmaat
LMAO
HERE WE GO. Your continued bias bleeds into every article like a poison. Why don’t you just give it up and steer clear of this forum. You are obviously a troll.
Chrisk
I don’t read bother reading the troll formerly known as SF castles posts.
theafricanwiththemouth
LMAO!
ID-I-OT.
stephen_25
Eww who on earth would want to touch or be touched by a millennial.
Doug
I’m so glad I’m not a part of these self-absorbed millennials. I drive Uber occasionally and I’m often blown away by the bubble some of these people stay in.
Curtispsf
Oh, c’mon people. STOP hating millennials. They just need a SAFE SPACE and an award for waking up each day. Sad people, they are. Not all, but most.
karljordinson
Who are millennials. I don’t know any young person call themselves this! They don’t represent the general public!
Brian
Google is your friend
Joshua333
You could probably triple that for boomers
startenout
I always hate how articles of this kind in the media choose to propagate hatred. The article could have read 72% of millennials have no fear of social contact with an HIV+ person, but instead made the decision to highlight the negative in the vast minority. I’m sure this clickbait sells ad space, but it also derails any sense of veracity in reporting and community in our community.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
What they forget to mention was that all of those 28% were wearing a certain red cap……..
Heywood Jablowme
Yeah, that’s probably the main factor. We hear a lot how young people today are so “woke” & stuff, but there are young people in the red states too.
Chipper
What are they missing? possibly a friend. We all need friends. but some are so hateful, I pity them.
Todd.Brooklyn
That is an incredibly small sample group. Where are they from? What education do they have. Seems like a horribly skewed poll. I live in NYC and grew up in CA and think it would be incredibly difficult to get this result from either place.
GentlemanCaller
OK millennial.