WTF? Why is this on the rise again?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, men are having unprotected anal sex a lot more than before. In fact, the numbers rose almost 20% from 2005 to 2011. And according to the 2011 survey, most of these men don't know the H.I.V. status of the other guy.
Really? We are here again? I know a lot of this has to with self-esteem and other personal issues, but please fam, think of your lives and others!
These numbers can't continue to grow! They can't!
Go here for more on this disturbing news.
1 comment:
The article actually says that of the men surveyed, they did not know their own HIV status, not the serostatus of the other guy.
This article, as well as the data collection they're citing is rife with problems, including:
**The CDC collects the data, which is great of course as they are our biggest and best statistical collection body out there. But, how do they do it? They sample men's information in gay bars across 20 cities. Hardly the environment to get accurate information.
**The information is over over two years old, and is coming up on three years. Since then PrEP and Truvada for PrEP has been approved by the FDA and is going to be the game changer in HIV prevention.
**The experts cited completely discount serosorting, and that's misleading on it's face. In the proper settings with informed partners it also is a proven preventative measure as the risk of HIV seroconversion is next to nil when the positive person is on their ARV's and their viral load is undetectable. That is not to say that serosorting will always work. If you're chasing a stray piece of tail and the guy tells you, "yeah, baby. I'm poz and undetectable" and you take his word for it, then yes. You're playing Russian Roulette with your HIV status.
**The article notes that the CDC recommends you test once a year and nobody bothers to mention in the entire piece that it's AMAZINGLY insufficient if you're sexually active. If you're dropping trou all over the city, my recommendation is that you test like a porn star. They test constantly, and these days it's free. You have nothing to lose but an hour of your time. I'm coming up on 50, sexually active and no, I don't always use a condom. I have no desire to become HIV positive and am negative as of yesterday's test. Guess how I do it?
The term "unprotected sex" is a cringe worthy misnomer that HIV/AIDS advocates like myself are dropping from our lexicon in light of PrEP, serosorting and other proven methods of protection. That's not to say that HIV isn't a problem; it absolutely is and we've failed as a community in the last 15 years by dropping our focus on it in light of other endeavors. But, now that we're paying attention again, the community has to be reeducated on what's going on. The game has changed entirely.
Daniel
sayencrowolf.net
Post a Comment