There is certainly nothing wrong with someone being public about his or her HIV-status, but by allowing people to identify themselves, at least in part, by this attribute on a public profile, dating apps put pressure on HIV-positive people to out themselves. It’s a tacit promotion of “serosorting,” which is discrimination based on HIV-status. There is the option to leave this field blank and most apps do not allow users to filter members based on HIV-status alone. However for subscribers who choose not to publicly disclose their status, I suspect it will invite suspicion in much the same way it does when users don’t disclose their age, weight, ethnicity or relationship status. Thus it will have the unintended consequence of alienating users who are honest or choose not to publicly disclose their status.
I understand the option to list HIV-status on these apps is a nod toward public health and that is commendable, but I’m skeptical of its efficacy. There’s nothing to stop someone from lying about their HIV-status in their profile, and so those who are actually honest about being HIV-positive will be the ones to suffer. Any user of these apps knows how downright hateful people can be on them, particularly when anonymous. Those who choose to disclose their status could end up enduring unnecessary cruelty. Their honesty will be punished, and I don’t think we will be any better off than before.”— Adult film star Sean Sevran, writing in Paper magazine about why he thinks hookup apps shouldn’t ask members to list their serostatus.
truckproductions
Give me a break.. So tired of this absurd argument. Whether you like it or not, whether the entire hiv poz community likes it or not, some people who are negative will never feel comfortable having sex with someone who is positive. There is a lot of anxiety out there still and those who know themselves to have said anxiety have every right to avoid situations that inflame it. Undetectable is just another opportunity for someone to be less than honest about their status. If someone doesn’t want to sleep with u because you are poz, get over yourselves! You’ll live. It’s just sex. You’re not being denied housing or food or something that is essential. move on and stop bullying the neg community.
jkthsnk
You’re anxiety stems from willful ignorance or a denial of science. Either way it is not to be encouraged any more than a fact free approach to politics. It is in fact risky to do so.
Paco
people need to start asking others when the last time they were tested for STIs and how many unprotected sexual partners they have had since the last test. The men that don’t get tested or tested enough to keep up with their unprotected sexual activities need to be the ones targeted since they are the ones spreading diseases until they finally have no choice but to find out they have something because the symptoms have become too much to ignore. By then it is too late, because they have probably already spread it to a dozen others and should be held liable.
ErikO
@truckproductions: Very true. It’s best to just assume whoever you are having sex with could be HIV+ or have other STDs and have safer sex, and talk about your sexual histories, and get tested together.
frankcar1965
And what pray tell, does get tested together mean? A test means NOTHING! You can get tested one minute and get infected the next. You cannot trust anyone unless you are with them at all times. Oh I know, you trust your partner fully, get real, they lie all the time.
ChrisK
@truckproductions:”move on and stop bullying the neg community.” Really? That doesn’t even make any sense. This isn’t an us vs them situation. At least your honest about the hating part.
ChrisK
@Paco: Yes they’re the most infectious during this time. My experience has been guys that make a big deal about your status 98% of the time want unsafe sex. This app feature is a license for most of these idiots.
Mark
I agree it causes discrimination; however dating apps aside some many gay guys go to glory holes, book stores, rest rooms, parks, etc. and have anonymous blow jobs and bareback sex everyday…and none of them are disclosing anything, name, status, married, etc…..
Violent Rainbow
I would never have sex with someone who is HIV positive, I don’t care what anyone says it’s not worth the risk of having to take thousands of pills every single day for the rest of your life in order to live these people are NOT healthy, it doesn’t matter how “undetectable” their HIV is they still have it and it will eventually kill them and it’s not gonna happen to me.
frankcar1965
What a putz, no one takes thousands of pills a day. Most just take ONE and never know they’re poz at all. I can GUARANTEE that you have had sex with someone that is poz you just did not know it, and maybe they did not either. I guess you just took their word for it. Get real and get your head out of the sand.
NateOcean
Zevran thinks tha “serosorting” is discrimination and likens it to age, racial or weight discrimination.*
Does Zevran suggest that we erase our profile details and let online dating become some sort of blind lottery?
Horny? Click “yes”. You will immediately be linked to a random profile. You are require to have sex with that person regardless of height, weight, age, hair, eyes, race, HIV-status, relationship status or astrological sign.
Top? Bottom? Fisting enthusiast? Doesn’t matter, you are required to do it all. Otherwise that “discrimination”.
_________
*BTW, some people are actually “seeking older”, are “chubby chasers”, etc.
ChrisK
@Violent Rainbow: Wow. the 1980’s is calling you back. Misinformation galore. Seriously is someone pointing a gun to your head right now forcing you? You need to call the police immediately.
ChrisK
@NateOcean: Yes it is discrimination. You remember how the jews were forced to wear the star of david? Not to mention creating a blind trust. You’re an idiot if you depend on this.
This is just another way of driving it underground. Should be the last thing we want.
Heywood Jablowme
@Violent Rainbow: “I would never have sex with someone who is HIV positive,”
Oh, I’m sure you already have. They just hadn’t got tested recently and didn’t know they had it. Those are the ones who are REALLY infectious! BWA-HA-HA.
JerseyMike
I think people posting their HIV status for the world to see cause more people to lie about status. I think people are more open to discussing one on one. 80% (guesstimate) lie about status online.
frankcar1965
Their status is not the only thing they lie about, they lie about everything. Gay men are the worst with telling the truth.
SportGuy
Someones status is very important to alot of people. We are talking about someones health here, so there is nothing wrong with apps asking it. Be smart and assume everyone is poz and practice safe sex 100% of the time, even in relationships.
Chris
Anything and everything that someone puts on a dating app is and can be used to sort them as more or as less desirable partners. What is more: as long as people want information that allows them to sort and to decide who to have sex with, apps are going respond to ask people to provide that information. So this and other arguments about information provided via apps really boil down to something that won’t happen in a competitive market: ignore what the user wants.
QJ201
Coming from someone who does bareback porn… his argument is just… defensive.
So if we don’t serosort are we now Pharma-sorting?
PrEP/TASP only need apply
He doesn’t mention that.. but that is exactly what is happening.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
Sexual mate selection is THE very definition of discrimination so get over your hypocritical fucking selves.
SonOfKings
@Violent Rainbow: You need to seek further education on this subject.
SonOfKings
The user can simply choose not to provide a status. I wouldn’t assume that necessarily means they are positive. It may mean they don’t know their status because they haven’t been tested in awhile.
SonOfKings
It is not necessary or desirable for dating apps to ask every question under the sun just because some coke-bottle glasses wearing OCD types have the inclination to be hyperselective when filtering. Most hook-up apps that I know of don’t ask for things like income level, homeownership status, educational level, they type of car you drive, etc. because too much information up front can just kill the spirit of fun within that community.
I really don’t have a problem HIV status being asked, due to the hook-up implications. But let’s not get crazy with demanding to know EVERYTHING up front. I’m sure dating apps want to maintain a robust level of user interaction, and too many overly exclusionary profile filters may drive down the interactivity.
Dymension
If I want to have sex with someone I want to know. At the end of the day, it’s my body and I want to choose if I have sex with someone who is HIV positive.
frankcar1965
You HAVE had sex with a poz person you just did not know it.
Dymension
@jkthsnk: You are missing the point. Everyone has choices, and if an HIV negative person wishes to avoid sexual contact with an HIV positive person, it is their prerogative. End of story. I’m so tired of the POZ community making themselves out to be victims.
If you are HIV positive it was your own “willful ignorance or denial of science” that got you there in the first place.
Dymension
@ChrisK: Oy, vey. There is no misinformation galore here. @Violent Rainbow is within his rights to not want to take a chance. There is no such thing as 100% safe sex. Only safer sex….there is always that chance that you might get infect, however small.
Kangol
@ChrisK: Please go a bit easy with the “yellow star” comparisons, please. You know, casually analogizing anything with the Holocaust, US chattel slavery, and so on really diminishes the severity and horror of those historical events, and normalizes silly arguments like Zevran’s. I bet he puts body type, d!ck size, and other info on his ads. So why shouldn’t serostatus be on there too? I agree that we should assume everyone on these apps is poz and act accordingly, but if someone is clear about being tested and negative, they should be able to say that.
frankcar1965
My god, does anyone know that “tested” mean tested at THAT one time? You could go out and get infected the next minute after the test. When someone says they have been tested it means NOTHING.
Dymension
@Chris: Yes. If you are HIV positive you are less desirable.@SonOfKings: Don’t know what’s people’s problem is with @Violent Rainbow. There is no 100% safe sex: only safer sex. As long as one partner is positive, there is always the chance that fluid from the positive partner can enter the blood stream of a negative person, be it from their gums during oral sex, a condom breaks, etc.
Perhaps you and others need to seek further education on the subject.
Dymension
@PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID: So in order for you to NOT DISCRIMINATE, you should have sex with everyone, regardless if you are attracted to them or not?
Give me a break. The same people screaming about having someone want to know their sero status are the same ones saying they want 8+ inches (discrimination against the lesser endowed), muscular (discrimination against flabbier bodies), or tops (discrimination against bottoms). We can get really petty here….
Aromaeus
@Dymension: HIV can be passed from mother to child. There are people living with it who were born positive.
surreal33
Again we have a shallow, clueless, vile, hypocrite, clown, providing misinformation about HIV. What are Mr Sevran, credentials? He is expert because he glamourizes unprotected, bareback sex for money, therefore, he is a reliable source of information regarding HIV.
Gay porn is a cesspool of drugs, exploitation, misery, self-destruction, and disease.
Therefore, why would anyone place credence in a gay porn star who peddles the illusion of random, unprotected, drug-crazed sex, as something to aspire to?
Disclosing your HIV status is NOT optional it is mandatory. No man has right to engage in sexual activity (of any kind) and not disclose HIV status!!!
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
@Dymension: One or both of us is confused AF here
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
Sorry but HIV neg status ought once more to be something to aspire to, a positive (for want of a better word) attribute to celebrated, because human nature being what it is that’s a more effective weapon In eradicating this disease, proven weapon, as indeed appeared to be case until other political priorities hijacked the debate, namely sparing people’s feels and amour propre regardless of the dangerous and CLEARLY counterproductive results (check the stats for younger guys) ..well, “counterproductive” that is except for those “activists” making a killing out of this wrongheaded con.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
@PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID: to preempt the professionally butthurt let me state, not that it ought to be necessary, I’m not suggesting re-stigmatising the condition, it’s a tricky balance for sure, but it’s gone too far in the wrong direction, whereas it was on the right course in the late 90s
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
*Too far in the other direction
Brian
Since when is a prostitute the guru of all things to do with STD’s? In any case, you should not be dating if you have an STD. Simple as that.
ErikO
@Violent Rainbow: You probably already have had sex with someone that’s HIV+; but they just did not tell you, or they lied about it. My HIV+ friends have told me how most gay men who are HIV+ flat out lie about it, or will tell you after you’ve had sex or had unprotected sex with them. A single test that says someone is “neg” is not a guarantee as they could be HIV+ but just not have produced the antibodies for it if they were recently infected. That”s why it’s best to assume whoever you are having sex with could be HIV+ or have another STD and have safer sex.
SonOfKings
@Dymension: You need to see a psychiatrist regarding your obssessive worry over other peoples’ HIV status. If you want to protect yourself stop having sex with strangers, go on Truvada, and use suitable barriers to entry.
The Tower of Power
@ErikO: Or how about this: Don’t have penetrative sex until you are in a committed relationship and get tested after 3 months.
Shocking I know. But it could save a life. If you are that horny, there are plenty of other sexual activities you could partake in that don’t involve an exchange of fluids like manual stimulation and toy play.
frankcar1965
How stupid!
“committed relationship and get tested after 3 months” Really?!!! And you would believe them?!!! They lie all the time, are you with them 24/7?
John
Who is “Zevran”? We all “serosort”…tall/short, weight, age, race,dick size, top/bottom, eye color, body build even gender so to complain that some use HIV status as a factor is not something to point out and criticize someone for. I shake my head at the “prep”sters who still BB. FDA has no idea about how far in the future until your body potentially builds up a tolerance to the drug or cause liver/kidney damage etc…so let Zevran continue to use his criteria to select partners (whoever they throw him on set with) and we will use ours.