Salon provided the following bit of information on hiv.
They came up with 75% of hiv+ guys being oblivious to their hiv status. Numbers were higher for racial minorities, particularly black guys (I wonder if the difference was more due to economic class, and insurance to deal with problem, but, oh well, I’m not going to pursue the article that far). Another source of potential bias:
Researchers surveyed 5,719 men aged 15 to 29 at dance clubs, bars, health clubs and street locations in Baltimore, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Seattle from 1994 to 2000.
I wonder if they did and/or why they didn’t contact social, religious, political, and athletic organizations to pass the opportunity on to their members. Might hit a slightly different subset of the population, one less prone to consuming judgement “enhancers”.
Regardless, I don’t really doubt the gist of their results. And it does nothing to calm my paranoia. Maybe I’ll just laminate myself from the waist down before heading out.
Better put that laminate over your mouth, too, as well as any open sores. Better yet, just get a full body condom. 😉
Scary stuff, this. 🙁
Hehehe… There’s justification for a rubber or latex fetish for you 😀
“Yes, darling, just come on the outfit… or better yet, inside your own.”
😉
results
I’ll try to avoid sounding like my grandfather, who had to trudge to school for miles in the snow, etc.
I came out roughly 15 years ago. We knew about AIDS, but helpful treatments didn’t exist yet. A lot of gay men were infected before the extent of the epidemic became widely understood. Nearly all of the friends I made at that time are dead now. The fella who introduced me to KWC died long ago.
As the epidemic took down my friends one-by-one, I too suffered from HIV paranoia. I’ve had sex with people who are now dead.
During the depths of my HIV paranoia, a lesbian friend of mine was killed in a car accident. On that day I learned that there are many ways of meeting death, and that the ways I worry about are not necessarily the ways that will eventually hit me or my loved ones.
Yes, there are risks to sex, to riding bikes around town, to walking through my neighborhood at night. I learn about the risks, I take reasonable precautions, and I move ahead with my life. I try to focus on what I can do while I’m alive, rather than what will take me away.
Re: results
Wow, that’s a bit like my experience coming out…and about the same time line. I’m gonna add you to my buddy list, I hope it’s ok. 🙂
That’s a good site. Thanks for the heads up. 🙂