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I'm fed up with the topic of HIV prevention on HIV websites. Spare me the "I should've worn a condom" mea culpas and the "condoms suck" justifications. I'm sick of blaming pozzies for having unprotected sex, then finding ways for neggies to do it. I don't care about HIV prevention. I don't wish the virus on anyone, but we're a little late in the game to care about prevention. I already have the damn virus. Can we focus on things that actaully impact the lives of those living with HIV?
Another ground-breaking article .... we must going through a very slow news cycle as there are alot of articles presenting the obvious as news.
It scares me how little people writing these articles and doctors/politicians know about behaviors that drive unsafe sex, especially in the gay community.
I fall into the unsafe sex category most of the time. There are many out there who do as well weather they are honest about it or not. Those w/o understanding in what fuels the phenomenon in many individuals. Education, condom accessability, lower alcohol consumption, etc -- whatever they want to point a finger at as a cause for these behaviors and make improvements in these areas as a solution to eliminating or nearly eliminating unsafe sex occurrences.
In reality, the fact is a large number (large meaning a larger # than they realize) of those that HIV+, especially those that are gay/bi, have a barebacking fetish. It's the desired way to have sex for these individuals. Meaning it is a choice of preference. Heck, I knew the risks and potential consequences of having unprotected sex. All that knowledge didn't affect my decision. And knowing what I know now and that I would become + because of it still wouldn't have changed my behavior. Heck I don't even drink/pnp so alcohol or drugs didn't play any part either. Now these things or education or condom accessability may help decrease the total incidents of unsafe sex. However there would still be a sizeable chunk of sexually active individuals who WANT to have condomless sex. As evidence to the large following that barebacking has, weather those who engage in it are open & honest about their feelings or not, is seen the types of porn produced by the porn industry. A solid majority of gay porn produced is condomless porn. If it wasn't selling more than safe sex porn w/condoms, they wouldn't be making it the majority of their films. Barebacking to many of it's followers is seen as being more sexy, intimate or hotter. It becomes more of a compulsion and obsession to engage in unprotected sex generally for a barebacker as opposed to an outright decision. I am not opposed to safe sex, I am open to it and pretty much afford such a decision to my partner and g along with what he is OK with. However, I know what my preference is and try to hook up with like minded partners as much as possible.
The bottom line is there are more things driving these behaviors than is understood.
"In vino veritas", aka, "in wine is truth". the more disinhibited these young adults became as a result of alcohol, the more averse to condoms they became. would someone please produce a condom that actually feels BETTER than going raw? until the day that such condoms exist and are widely and cheaply available, "barrier protection" will always have limited appeal...no matter how outraged or self-righteous anyone gets. it's time for governments to recruit scientists to design better condoms.
ted
I'm sure these are fine people, but did we really need a study to tell us that alcohol impairs judgement?
December 27, 2011 • philadelphia