So far this semester, we have addressed the means by which AIDS and STI’s are spread and the facility of women to contract these diseases. Not only does biology appoint women as easy contractors of AIDS but their vulnerability through sexual violence also makes them optimal contractors of this disease. Gay males too carry the stigma for being HIV positive because of their sexual preference and for some, their promiscuity. [1] “From 1981, AIDS was firmly constructed into the west as a disease affecting male bodies, more specifically the bodies of gay men (Richardson, 127).”

Whether these two groups contribute largely to the HIV positive community however, we have not addressed another population of HIV positive individuals who are neither women nor gay men- heterosexual male prostitutes. Don’t be fooled into thinking that all male prostitutes are gay or non-heterosexual and only service women. These are false assumptions.

[1] “Sexualizing the HIV-infected body as gay also encouraged the view that heterosexual men were also not at risk and, by implication, “safe” (Richardson, 128). Although AIDS has been firmly constructed as a ‘male disease’ in the west, the heterosexual male is largely invisible in AIDS discourse (Richardson, 138).”

Curious to find more info about these individuals who linger the streets afterhours, I came upon a short documentary for a new campaign named Invisible: The Unseen World of Male Prostitution. This documentary focuses in on the struggles of male prostitution in Rhode Island. Whether this documentary is fictional or not, does not deviate the focus for new groups that are affected by AIDS; as we tend to focus more on women and gay men prevention.

[2] What this documentary does reveal is the lives of male prostitutes who roam the streets picking up ‘tricks’ for a couple bucks in order to feed their drug addiction. Surprising too, is that they are not all (not seemingly) gay men. They describe the necessity to work the streets in order to acquire the drugs that they need and sometimes having 8-10 clients per night. One male prostitute discusses the lack of AIDS fear and how there are those men who admit their probability of AIDS contraction however, that this does not affect the number of ‘tricks’ they pick up. These heterosexual males have families, girlfriends and are NOT GAY and to put it simply, they are doing what they gotta do to get their fix. It is important to realize that we as a community focus too much on stereotypes and stigma and assume that all who are HIV positive are victims of rape and gay men, why must the stigma stop there?

As discussed in class, we generally think that AIDS prevention entails safe sex with condoms and educating others of AIDS. If everyone is educated, will AIDS stop? What I gathered from this video is that these men are aware of AIDS but there is no real fear for contracting the disease nor spreading it. They just want their drugs and unprotected sex guarantees them more money for their addiction. If then, they know about AIDS and the means of contraction then would further education really make a difference to the spread of AIDS? This is the big question here. What, if any, amount of education is really needed to teach the public about AIDS contraction so that everyone will commit to safer sex practices? In her article, “Structural Violence, Poverty and the AIDS Pandemic”, Jola Mukherjee writes that it is reasoned that AIDS can be prevented through behavior change.

 [3] “HIV prevention can be viewed as two interrelated entities: risk avoidance such as abstaining from sex and drug use; and harm reduction that is minimizing risk while conduction behaviors that are associated with HIV (use of clean needles for drug users and use of condoms). Prevention is often presented as “life-style choices…yet those who live in poverty have severely constrained choice (379).”

If poverty then, is a major factor of AIDS contraction, how can these men who are already struggling to make ends meet, have the opportunity to get the help they need. It is easy for us to reason that their safety is just a trip to Rehab away. This may be an easy solution however, if they chose to leave the streets, where will they find the funds to pay for rehab? If they decide one day that they want to leave the streets, how will they find a job? Who would want to hire them? Are those who continue to have unprotected sex and continue to contract others morally wrong for doing this? Do they feel no obligation to protect others and their well-being just as no one seems to care about their own well-being?

What we need to gather from this documentary and these articles is that, AIDS is not discriminatory. All colors, cultures, and genders are vulnerable to AIDS so we must not aim AIDS support to only specific communities. We must revise our plan of action and find new solutions to help those in need while protecting ourselves from this epidemic.

[1] Richardson, Diane. “In/Visible Women and Dis/appearing Men.” Rethinking Sexuality, 127-138.

[2] KickStarter.com. Invisible: The Unseen World of Male Prostitution. 29 Oct. 2012. Web. 7. Nov. 2012 <http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1928510921/invisible-1>

[3] Mukherjee, Joia S. “Structural Violence, Poverty, and the AIDS Pandemic”. Sexual Disease, 379-385.

Abortion has been a topic before and is difficult to avoid in a course like this. Typically, you see the opposing sides battling it out, the “Pro-Choicers” accusing the “Pro-Lifers” of disregarding the rights of the woman and the “Pro-Lifers” rebounding with considering the “Pro-Choicers” to be neglecting a life. Something less seen, however, are advertisements for abortion, strictly outlining details from the clinics hours of operation all the way down to prices according to length of pregnancy. Well, apparently, the Emory Wheel in the early seventies was not afraid to share these details.

This could be  a result of the political forecast at that time. One of the most famous court cases in recent American history, Roe v. Wade concluded that a person has the right to an abortion. The main stipulation regarding this decision was that the abortion could only take place before the point of viability, defining viable as being able to survive outside of the mother’s womb. This 1973 case was one of the largest rulings on the topic of abortion. It is understandable, then, how the way in which people within society spoke about abortion began to shift and evolve.

The ad in the Emory Wheel for T.L.C Abortion stated “Abortion is legal; Abortion is the right of women, DON’T WAIT…ACT NOW.” Clearly this seems to be a response fueled by the relief of the Roe v. Wade ruling. However, with such a blatant advertisement, its hard to ignore the fact that these people have been waiting for a while for the opportunity to broadcast this message. What, then, was the environment like before the ruling? If there were organizations and groups with these views just waiting to seize the chance, the social tension had to be nearly tangible.

But wait, in 1971, there was an even more seemingly controversial ad in the Emory Wheel. Wickersham Women’s Medical Center in October of 1971 listed the prices for an abortion according to how many weeks into term the woman was. It is 2012 and I did not even know how much an abortion would cost today. Yet , in 1971, here in the newspaper is a list outlining it as clear as day…and this is two years before the Roe v. Wade ruling

There were multiple organizations and groups in this era advertising and supporting abortion. The next page over from the Wickersham price list held a small box titled “Pregnant? Need Help?.” Surely this is an adoption agency suggesting that there is always a home for a child that a mother may not feel adequate to raise, right? Nope. According to this ad, “an early abortion is more simple and less costly, and can be performed on an out patient basis.” So why wait?

Perhaps the abortion discussion of previous decades has been underrated. Here we are today, still fighting over the matter and still speaking about it carefully. Yet in the seventies, you could check the price for an abortion at the same time you see where the best denim sales are.

Note Nov 8, 2012 (2)

Note Nov 8, 2012

Note Nov 8, 2012 (1)

Similar reason to why people won’t carry around condoms.

People should not be embarrassed about their sickness. Being open-minded to talk about what they are suffering from would make the patients more willing to seek treatments, become knowledgeable about what they are carrying, and hence possibly prevent further spread of the disease. We all know these but the nature of STD not only makes it difficult for patients, especially females, to comfortably talk about their disease, but also damages them psychologically and culturally. The main reason comes from the promiscuity stigma or even “judgements such as irresponsible, naive, or stupid” (Nack 488) that the disease brings to the patient, even though sexual intercourse is not the only way of transmitting the infections. The article, “Damaged Goods: Mixing Morality with Medicine” by Adina Nack, made me think more about the causes of psychological and social damages that STD can bring to an individual.

In the example of the article, the first thought that came to the infected 20-year-old female undergraduate’s mind after finding out about her possible contraction is that “How could this have happened to me? I’m not a slut” (Nack 488). This immediately shows how her attitude was in the past toward STD and STD patients, that only “sluts” get STD’s when people with few sexual experience can actually contract the infections too, even with ‘proper protection’ (condom). I think this phenomenon is quite similar to our attitude toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. People would talk freely about homosexuality with or without correct understanding about them until they find out that someone very close comes out as homosexual. The psychological hardships in both cases (realisation of STD or lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people) are likely to be more intense if they had more negative opinions on STD patients or lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. According to “symbolic interactionism,” “[i]dentities are meanings attributed to self, by others and by self” (Nack 491), so, when people get infected by STD’s, they may be psychologically suffering more from their own judgement on themselves.

However, the self-judgement and stigma all comes from the societal attitude that made each individual to possess such negative views. In 1980’s, women were viewed “not as victims of the disease but as risk factors to others,” and HIV infections in women were regarded as “simply the natural consequence of the way they choose to live, the ‘wages of sin'” (Nack 492). Today in the United States, we have a lot better understanding about STD’s and their ways of infecting new people, but incorrect and biased condemnation can break the patients’ mentality seriously, causing larger problems.

I once read a news article about a woman in China who had been sexually abused by many people, including her step-father from when she was fifteen years old. When she found out she got infected with HIV somewhere in her life, and found out that she can no longer pursue her dream of a stable life, she decided to take a revenge on the society, especially to men who she thought ruined her life, and started to have sex with more men, possibly infecting 279 more people.

In Korea, I once watched a TV documentary about a man in his 40’s who believed for several years that he had AIDS after comparing his symptoms to what he read on internet. Because of the harsh societal view on people with STD’s, he ran away from his family to not make his family suffer, and started to live in complete isolation. He refused to go to clinic to be tested for HIV, because he did not want to risk himself by letting people find out about his ‘AIDS’. When the documentary producers finally convinced him to get tested, the result showed that he was HIV negative.

Such examples show that people need to understand about the disease correctly and have more mature view on the patients who are the victims of the disease. In order for us to fight off the STD’s, accurate facts about STD should be communicated through media and education, which will hopefully make the patients feel less painful in their minds.

Source:

Damaged Goods: Mixing Morality with Medicine by Adina Nack

I was interested in the paper titled, “Risk, Identity, and Love in the Age of AIDS. I feel as though I understand this issue because I have seen some of the things this paper mentions as I grew up. The first thing I noticed was about teaching abstinence. On page 619 line 10 it says, “…not far behind was the remarkable popular consensus that no-sex was the best thing to teach and the best thing for teens to practice.” Growing up this lead to an initial cultural shunning of sexuality. I remember in middle school seeing pictures of STD’s, it was one of the worst visual experiences of my life. The scar left in my mind is still felt. However the problem with these scare tactics is that youth, especially youth such as my self, will take chances and make mistakes. Often times it is not until we make mistakes that we actually learn. In the article “A true coming to age story” she mentions how, “right now she is still in the land of flirts and smiles.” There is nothing wrong with her progression into her sexuality, there is nothing wrong with taking your time and figuring it out. But not ever girl will be as graceful and as safe as Suzanne Hyman was in this 2005 edition of the Emory Wheel.

The next major thing to catch my eye was the thought of straight people being able to hold on to multiple identities, were gay people could only be gay. As stated, “..his identity is straight, yes, but mostly he’s seen as African American, or Filipino, or Jewish, a jock, or a gangster or a nerd. But a gay kid is defined by what he is not; he is not straight.” In my high school, I remember it did not matter what ur talents were. If you were gay, you were gay; that’s all a person would have been seen as. Unless you were a female (homosexual or bisexual), note the double standard, you functioned outside of groups of men. They were brutally targeted and viciously insulted. Learning how to insult or “talk shit” is a cultural right of passage were I am from. Its like Sparta, but with words. It would change day to day who the target was. Sometimes it was you sometimes not. But if you were gay, you were always the target.

It was never the girls that hated, just the men. This is not the case 100% of the time, but more often than not it was. In my humblest opinion, gay men are less of a threat to women. Generally this makes it easier for a girl to become close with a gay guy as apposed to a straight guy because he is registered inside her mind as not a threat and therefore will be allowed more leeway with his actions compared to a man she thinks is trying to proposition sex. Men on the other hand, very possibly felt sexually threatened. After all, if he is gay, and he likes men, then may be he likes/wants/lusts after me? I believe this is where all the hate/distrust for the gay men came from when we were growing up. I made my first gay friend in high school when I was trying to get closer to the very attractive girl he was friends with. Not the noble of reasons, I know, but it was a path to understanding for me. Now one of my best friends is gay, and not because I am trying to flirt with his female friend or anything like that. He is just a homie, a good dude. Five six years ago that might not have been possible.

It was once very socially dangerous to be gay. Growing up in the South it may have been worse. After all, this is cotton-pickin-Georgia, and things have never been easy in the Buckle of the Bible Belt. But as I have learned in the archives, life and social progression is a series of battles in a long war. I see the gay community coming up and gaining social independence and more of a place in mass culture every day. Lessons in early school life prepare us for real life, they prepare our identity for all the risk and the love we will get from the world.

In Judith Levine’s article entitled “Community: Risk, Identity and Love in the Age of AIDS,” she speaks a great deal about prostitution in the section of the article about respecting each person’s choices as a rational decision. Additionally, a great deal of the article deals with education about AIDS and how to expand the reach of knowledge of the disease. Considering the “matter of fact” nature of the article, and its acknowledgement how reasoning behind prostitution, I began rationale prostitution.

It is no secret that prostitution occurs despite legality constraints against it, and  as we can see in the article, “street kids” are using it to barter. Levine points out that many of these street kids are vigilant enough to know that they should condoms, yet there is a high bartering price for sex without a condom. Undeniably, contracting HIV/AIDS is the surest way to make you less desirable to barter with and limits you to who you can barter with through sex. A very similar notion can be applied for prostitutes [1].

In response to this article, there is a very simple way to increase knowledge about not just HIV and AIDS but STIs as a whole and to eliminate this whole concept of bartering for sex. Actually, allow me to be clear, it is simple in theory, and far too extreme to be applicable in today’s society. Nonetheless, legalizing prostitution, with a few regulations and guidelines, could solve many issues here domestically for us.

Due to the black market conditions of prostitution, several key factors emerge such as: minimal standards of sexual health, non-taxable income and safety. For a relative comparison, I will limit most my scope to within the United States, but there is data to be gathered from international areas outside the US that do allow prostitution as well. In the US, the only legalized prostitution is allowed in Nevada. Nevada state law requires that each week a registered prostitute must be tested for the absence of gonorrhea and Chlamydia and each month be tested for HIV and syphilis. By legalizing prostitution, we would at least have a regulatory mandate that would provide a “safer” environment (in terms of sexual health) through such testing regulations. These regulations also bar a prostitute from ever working in a legal brothel is HIV is contracted and is not permitted to work if tested positive for any other disease until properly treated [2]. I think implementing these regulations could create a true incentive for aiding increasing awareness by utilizing this multi-million dollar a year industry (that is legally speaking). In Nevada alone, prostitution rakes in state economic revenue of $400 million dollars a year [3]. Last time I checked the US has a large debit that they needed to pay off, and by taking a portion of this revenue, the government could allot more money to research and awareness programs. Not to mention, if it was legalized, there would also be a decrease in violent crimes committed against prostitutes. The profession is dangerous enough, in terms of disease, but it also one of the most violent professions where rape is common. I understand that some may have a moral issue with the idea of legalizing this, but at the root of it, it helps provide a safe haven for those who engage in the practice, and it can help stimulate economic growth.

[1] https://classes.emory.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1642090-dt-content-rid-262294_2/courses/FA12_AMST_385_DTROKA_Combined/risk%20identity%20and%20love%20in%20the%20age%20of%20AIDS.pdf

[2] http://prostitution.procon.org/view.background-resource.php?resourceID=749#21

[3] http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/06/15/feeling-the-pinch.html

Problems of Chronic Illnesses to Self and Identity

Talks with S

11/03/2012

Sexually Transmitted Diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, HPV, Genital Herpes and the like, are infections that once contracted can never be fully cured. Contracting such a disease can be a testament of involvement in a sexual activity, promiscuity, irresponsibility, or culpability, and its consequences have been tagged as “life altering”. Having “safe sex” is attributed as always “using a condom” when engaging in sexual intercourse, however, this may not always safeguard one from contracting an STD. Furthermore, STD’s present a threat to an individual’s “sexual self”. Nack in Damaged Goods, writes about, “transformation of their [infected individuals] “sexual-selves”- how they see themselves as sexual beings- and how they understood and made choices about sexual health issues” after contracting such an infection (498).

Wearing a condom does not 100% protect us from infections such as HIV/ AIDS, however, wearing protection can adversely reduce the risk of contracting this virus. Nevertheless, one may contract another STD even after using a contraceptive. Thus the question that comes to my mind is the possibility of contracting an STD under circumstances beyond ones control. What if one has done “everything right” or in other words, has taken all the necessary precautions (wearing a condom, asking their partner about their “sexual script” etc.) before involvement in a sexual activity, and despite that has contracted an STD? Many of us may think: “Can this actually happen?” The answer to which is yes, it can. One such infection is the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). This virus is unfortunately not always visible on an individual, thereby limiting our capabilities to avoid its contraction from a sex partner, and making it one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in the U.S (Nack 487). Often individuals think that since they always wear a condom during sexual intercourse, there are never at risk of contracting an STD. While contraception can safeguard us from numerous STD’s, their potential is not limitless, and we are still susceptible to a number of STD’s.

An individual, who has contracted an STD, has to undergo severe ramifications. Nack in Damaged Goods, creates a “6-stage model” that attempts to include the different stages an individual may undergo before and after contracting a STD. This can be seen as: “self invincibility, self anxiety, immoral patient, damaged goods, sexual healing and reintegration” (498 & 499). These infected individuals may undergo an “identity dilemma” after contracting an STD. The virus enters our body and brings with it physical risk and discomfort, psychological repercussions and societal stigma. It changes or alters, an individuals “sexual-self”- a private self-shaped by emotions, cognitions, and memories of sexual experience (Nack 491).

Therefore, steps need to be taken to minimize the negative consequences of those already infected with the virus, as well as those who are at “high-risk” usually identified as : gay men, haitian immigrants, intravenous drug users and their sex partners and babies (Levine 624). Levine in Community, talks about successful AIDS prevention to include, “the recognition of the urgency of the problem of HIV and the exigencies, both personal and structural, of the people it is targeting; and respecting their social norms, identities, values and desires, expressed in the relationships between individuals and within communities” (621). He further adds,

“In AIDS prevention, the challenge is to find people where they affiliate and speak to their sense of belonging for the purpose of instilling and reinforcing safe-sex values and habits” (620).

There is no luck in the process of finding a cure for HIV/ AIDS. This is mainly because the HIV virus doesn’t kill its host, but in fact reduces ones immunity to such lows that the host contracts every virus or infection out there. He or she ultimately dies due to one of the deadly viruses he or she may have contracted. Furthermore, no accurate screening test is available for making sure that one does in fact have the HPV (Nack 487). Although an HPV vaccine does exist in the market today, it’s ultimate impact remains to be witnessed. In regards to HSV (herpes),“Medical researches are not sure whether a safe and effective one [vaccine] will be developed” (Nack 490).

Every year billions and billions of dollars are spent on conducting research, however, no cure has been found yet. The average sexually active human can only continue to take necessary precautions before involvement in sexual intercourse, and do all in his or her power to look after his or her “sexual health”. The rest has to be pinned down on mere hope that researchers will ultimately find a cure for such “life altering”, and sometimes even fatal viruses.

Citations:

Levine, Judith. “Community: Risk, Identity, and Love in the Ages of AIDS”

Nack, Adina. “Damaged Goods: Mixing Morality with Medicine”

General human papillomavirus, more commonly referred to as HPV, is the most common sexually transmitted infection.  There are more than 40 types of HPV that infect the genital areas of both men and women.  Although there are cases where HPV can infect the mouth and throat, most people are unaware that they are affected with the virus and are most likely infecting their sexual partners (CDC).  It is disconcerting that when individuals do seek sexual health exams, “less than one-third of US physicians consistently screen these patients for the full range of sexually transmitted diseases, leaving many patients unaware of their infection status with regard to either HPV or HSV” (Nack, 489).  HPV is one of the few STIs that there has been a vaccine developed for and that has underwent a widespread advertising campaign to promote its benefits.  I personally received the series of three Gardasil shots when I was in high school and know that the majority of my friends did so as well.

The appearance of trends amongst those who are carrying STIs is frequently linked to gender and race (Nack, 493).  I would argue, though, that the two most important factors in determining if one would get an STI vaccine is one’s socioeconomic status and knowledge of the disease and vaccine.    The fact that these factors usually do not coincide with one another is where the issue arises.  Gardasil is currently marketed at $120 per single dose.  Three doses are required over a six-month period, making the final cost for the HPV vaccine $360.  On top of the cost for the shot, many doctors charge for the office time when the vaccine is being given.  Most large insurance companies cover the Gardasil vaccine, but most only do so for females that are ages 9 to 26, the age group in which the vaccine is FDA approved.  Gardasil is now part of the Vaccines for Children Program, a federal program that provides free vaccines to children under the age of 18, whose health care does not cover the shots (http://www.gardasil.com).  Therefore, getting vaccinated is a huge chunk out of many people’s pockets that cannot afford insurance.  Although the Vaccines for Children Program in place, one must be aware that it even exists to be able to take advantage of the opportunity.

It all stems down the amount of sexual education being taught in our education program.  We see here at Emory that this department was the first to be cut, so it is obvious that our University does not think that this is a priority for college students.  As I said in my last post, the 1980s was a time of heightened teen pregnancies, STIs, and the emergence of AIDS as a serious issue.  There are articles in the Wheel that suggest that the reason these things were occurring in such a prevalent manner was that there was a lack of sexual education at the time.  In 1988, Jerry Falwell, an American evangelical fundamentalist Southern televangelist,  attacked public school in America by saying that sex education promoted teen pregnancy and we would live in a more moral land if sex education as forbidden in schools.  An Op-Ed piece featured in the 1988 Wheel calls Falwell naïve and ignorant and goes on to say that, “people who think they can be sexually active without taking precautions to prevent pregnancy or disease are the contribution to the high illegitimacy rate in this country” (“To Prevent” 8).

It is interesting that over twenty years later, we still see the backlash from the socially conservative members of our society to drugs such as Gardasil.  When the drug was originally marketed it was advertised as a vaccine to protect against several strains of sexually transmitted HPV.  In actuality, this is what the drug really is.  The Family Research Council equated Gardasil and its advertising campaign to “a license for young people to have premarital sex” (Nack, 487).  Both socially conservative groups and the CDC advised Merck, the maker of Gardasil, to advertise the product as a preventative to cervical cancer.  In reality, though, Gardasil protects against four HPV strands that are associated with only 70% of cervical cancers.  Therefore, this drug is not a true preventative for cervical cancer but is really a drug to prevent the spread of the STI HPV.  I think that it is extremely telling that the CDC told Merck to market the drug as a cancer rather than an STI preventative (Nack, 487).  This again stems back to the lack of sexual education in this country and how many are oblivious to the fact that they are too at risk for STIs and that they are much more common than one would think.  When one hears the word cancer, though, they would act in a heartbeat to be able to protect themselves against it and feel as if it is a much more relevant issue to their lives.

WORK CITED:

“GARDASIL.” Gardasil: Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16, and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant]. Merck & Co. Inc., 2011. Web. 04 Nov. 2012. <http://www.gardasil.com/>.

Nack, Adina. “Damaged Goods: Micing Morality with Medicine.”  Speaking of Sexuality: Interdisciplinary Readings. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. 487-502.

“To Prevent Teenage Pregnancy, Sex Education In Schools Needed.” The Emory Wheel 11 October, 1988, 8.

Human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, AIDS. This is a serious condition where affected individual’s immune system fails on them. According to the CDC, there are about 1.1 million Americans who are living with HIV, and 21% of them do not even know they have it [2]. The biggest problem with HIV/AIDS is ignorance and people unaware that they can spread it. As for most sexually transmitted disease, the best way of prevention is just abstinence. Safe sex can never be 100% safe, and people should always be aware of the consequences, even if they can be slim. You never know when you can be a part of the 1%. Sometimes your partner might not even know that he or she has AIDS. It’s better to just be safe and test yourself and your partner before intercourse. “Silence has equaled death” [1].

By the 1990s, one person would be infected with HIV every hour everyday. HIV/AIDS has become the leading cause of mortality for people aged 25-44 [1]. Many of those people actually are infected with HIV in their teenage years.

Experts have determined that AIDS largely affect populations with poor health, education or housing. Living conditions determine a lot about a person and the type of education they are exposed to. Also people in lower living conditions might not even have access to common contraceptives or even know what they are.  They might not even know what HIV or AIDS is and have no way of testing themselves. Also some of these patterns are seen globally. HIV/AIDS is seen a lot in Africa and slowly coming in South Asia.

It was estimated that in 1990s that “20 to 30% of gay youths would be infected by their 30^th birthday” [1]. Out of all the HIV-infected Americans in 1998, 63% of them were African American. A survey conducted by the CDC, determined that from 1998 to 200, about a third of gay black men in their 20s are HIV positive [1]. Another one of the major causes of HIV/AIDS is intravenous drug use. About half of the people in New York City with HIV were intravenous drug users.

The search for a cure is still ongoing. But there is an increase in new effective drug therapies that keep people with HIV healthy and increase their life span. The CDC has implemented a variety of programs in order to improve treatment, care and support for people with AIDS. Some of the divisions of HIV/AIDS Prevention groups include the Prevention-Intervention Research and Support, Prevention-Surveillance and Epidemiology, Global AIDS Program and more [2]. In an article in the Wall Street Journal, there is mention of finding a vaccine for HIV. Research is extremely important with HIV and there are many advances globally trying to find a cure or prevention. Researchers from the Center for AIDS Program of Research in South Africa found out a key change in the “outer coating of the HIV virus that has enabled two HIV-infected women to develop broadly neutralizing antibodies” [3].  This can greatly advance the field of HIV research. The problem with the HIV virus is that it is always changing, but they were able to create one antibody that was able to kill up to 88% of HIV strains from around the world” [3]. This study represents a “key advance in the vaccine field” [3]. It will take a long time to really find a solid cure for HIV, as most research takes a long time. But with slow steps, I am optimistic that large strides will occur in this field.

Successful AIDS prevention is based on two principles: “It must recognize the urgency of the problem of HIV and the exigencies, both person and structural, of the people it is targeting. And it must respect their social norms: their identities, values, and desires, expressed in their relationship between individuals and within communities” [1]. I feel with proper awareness, education and research, we can strive towards a better future with curing and preventing AIDS.

[1] Community: Risk, Identity, and Love in the Age of AIDS by Judith Levine

[2] http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/aboutDHAP.htm

[3]http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203400604578070861813226462.html

Over the past 25 years, the acquisition of HIV/AIDS knowledge has been extraordinary. The research and development of drug therapies has been extremely successful and that success has only been distilled by the financial obligations surrounding the pharmaceutical industry. Despite all of this progress, the most important aspect of epidemic control – prevention – has been difficult to promote.

Originally, the disease arose in an isolated population. In the United States, a sub-group of the general public were the predominant victims. As a result, the disease gained an irrevocable association with homosexuality and injection drug use. The treatment of these individuals was targeted and preventative measures focused on promoting a decrease in sexual partners, increasing advocacy for protected sex, and a somewhat conflicted campaign for clean needles.

As HIV has become recognized as a disease of the people, through it’s spread across the United States and its global affects, categorizing the victims has become a lot more difficult. In any epidemic, the public will always find a scapegoat. In the case of HIV, the blame has been passed around and depending on the region of the world, it may have settled on prostitutes, injection drug users, men who secretly engage in sex with other men, or poor men who are exposed to the disease through deviant behavior while traveling for work. These are some pretty specific groups. In contrast to the early days, people aren’t empathizing with the victims. They never really blamed rich white homosexuals in America and they’re not blaming them now in most of the world.

They’re also not blaming women.

Despite the fact that 50% of HIV infected individuals are female (Mukherjee 380), women are usually portrayed as victims of the men who transmit the infection to them. While authors such as Joia Mukherjee, Diane Richardson and Jenny Higgins all make great arguments about the victimization of certain groups and they provide copious research data to emphasize their points, I think they fall into the same trap as everyone else. By promoting the victimization of specific groups, they all continue to propagate the blame applied to other groups.

Everyone with HIV/AIDS is a victim.

That’s it. There’s no other way to explain this. The “terrible” husband who comes home from migratory work and transmits HIV to his wife is just as much a victim of the virus as his wife. He didn’t have extramarital sex with the intention of becoming infected with HIV. Whether or not he should be condemned for having extramarital sex in the first place is not a healthcare provider’s place to say.

So I propose we design a HIV/AIDS prevention plan that incorporates everyone’s good ideas while negating their judgments of who can and cannot be helped. In a study of the effectiveness and efficiency of HIV prevention programs by the CDC, the investigators found that behaviorally based prevention programs are most effective when they are supplied with sufficient resources, operate at a high level of intensity and display cultural competency. As such, I believe that continuing education and support of women’s rights and their personal advocacy is necessary. I think increasing the education of men about their susceptibility is also necessary. Giving every individual a chance to avoid infection requires cultural understanding. In collaboration with government officials, healthcare providers should advocate the promotion of laws that allow individuals – men and women – access to education and the right to choose what risky activities they engage in.

Murkherjee, Joia. Sex Matters: The Sexuality and Society Reader.  Ed. by Mindy Stombler, Dawn Baunach, Elisabeth Burgess, Denise Donnelly, Wendy Simonds, Elroi Windsor. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2010. 379-385

HOLTGRAVE, David R., PhD, NOREEN L. QUALLS, DrPH, MSPH, JAMES W. CURRAN, MD, MPH, RONALD 0. VALDISERRI, MD, MPH, MARY E. GUINAN, MD, PhD, WILLIAM C. PARRA, MS. An Overview of the Effectiveness and Efficiency of HIV Prevention Programs. Public Health Reports 1995

Higgins, Jenny A., PhD, MPH, Susie Hoffman, DrPH, and Shari L. Dworkin, PhD, MS. American Journal of Public Health. March 2010, Vol 100, No.3. 435-445

Richardson, Diane. Rethinking Sexuality. London: Sage Publications, 2000. 127-138.