What is going on here?!

[slipnslide]

Another disconcerting Canadian HIV report:

Ottawa HIV cases jump: report (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/08/09/ottawa-hiv-increase.html)

They can't be more clear than, "...and nearly nine out of every 10 cases is a man. The main risk factor, according to the report, is men who have sex with men."

How is this happening? This is a nation's capital with free access to screening clinics including one dedicated to men who have sex with men. From my discussions with the staff at these clinics I've learned that oral sex is not considered an HIV risk. That must mean that a lot of guys are having condom-less anal sex - how do they do this without concern?

Does anyone think technology can be contributing to this problem? It is so easy now for guys to have a few too many drinks and fire up social media platforms to find sex - a new and incredibly convenient phenomenon. Easy access, impaired judgement. . .

Whatever is behind this, it's incredibly discouraging.

[ErosUrge]

Another disconcerting Canadian HIV report:

Ottawa HIV cases jump: report (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/08/09/ottawa-hiv-increase.html)

They can't be more clear than, "...and nearly nine out of every 10 cases is a man. The main risk factor, according to the report, is men who have sex with men."

How is this happening? This is a nation's capital with free access to screening clinics including one dedicated to men who have sex with men. From my discussions with the staff at these clinics I've learned that oral sex is not considered an HIV risk. That must mean that a lot of guys are having condom-less anal sex - how do they do this without concern?

Does anyone think technology can be contributing to this problem? It is so easy now for guys to have a few too many drinks and fire up social media platforms to find sex - a new and incredibly convenient phenomenon. Easy access, impaired judgement. . .

Whatever is behind this, it's incredibly discouraging.

not surprised by this whatsoever...it will continue always to be perpetuated as long as there is a negative slant against men having sex with men....it really stinks and is the kind of reporting that never gives enough information. And let's not forget the multi-billion dollar industry that AIDS/HIV has become. Surely guys must use caution, but just as the pharmaceutical giants pedal their drugs to doctors and give them all kinds of bonuses for doing so, this kind of information to me is always suspect. I don't necessarily buy into this kind of clap trap...I'm not saying that risks aren't being taken, but I would question the degree that they're promoting here. If you want to keep the caufers full of $$$, you have to have examples for keeping it going. It's a well known fact that some institutions are not always doing things honestly or in the best interests or well being of the general public. A lot of our own government institutions that were once responsible for protecting the general public are now in control by certain individuals who were once or are still connected with certain large corporate entities....this goes from the FDA, to the FCC, to the EPA....all of them turning a blind eye to what they're suppose to be doing so as to benefit corporate interests....and sad to say, doing the same here with HIV....disgusting.

[tenni]

CBCNewsworld has just reported that there was a 50% increase for June over June 2010. The age group are men in their twenties. The AIDS organization in Ottawa state that the reason for the increase numbers is not an increase in HIV but an rapid increase in the numbers of people in this age group getting tested compared to the previous year. It was stated that 25% of people who are HIV do not know that they are HIV due to not being tested.

[slipnslide]

Gah, it's so easy to get tested. I guess it's scarier because the actual prevalence of HIV is higher than we thought because of the numbers who actually bother to get tested.

[tenni]

Possibly Slippy
It is also the fact that teens and people in their twenties(particularly early twenties) have a sense of immortality to how they approach things in life. The human brain is not fully developed in this area of cognitive reasoning until the mid twenties. Young males tend to be high risk takers and do not connect their mortality to thinking that they may get HIV. When I've been tested for HIV/STD, I noticed a very large number of people in their early twenties or younger in the waiting rooms. So, some are getting tested. The ratio of men to women getting tested was only slightly higher for men.

[byebibaby]

not surprised by this whatsoever...it will continue always to be perpetuated as long as there is a negative slant against men having sex with men...A lot of our own government institutions that were once responsible for protecting the general public are now in control by certain individuals who were once or are still connected with certain large corporate entities....this goes from the FDA, to the FCC, to the EPA....all of them turning a blind eye to what they're suppose to be doing so as to benefit corporate interests....and sad to say, doing the same here with HIV....disgusting.


I couldn't agree with you more. It is the stigma that they put on men who have sex with men that forces them to be secretive and deceptive about it. That is what leads to men having risky sex with partners they don't know. If society were more accepting it would be much easier for men to admit their desire and then seek out healthy, willing partners.

Also my best friend is a geneticist and he is convinced that a cure for HIV already exists but that there is no profit in it so it won't be released. Currently HIV/AIDS keeps people taking drugs several times a day for the rest of their lives which is a huge profit for drug companies....giving people an immunization against it would take away all that profit.

and then there are the really out there conspiracies that believe AIDS isn't even a disease and instead is just side-effect of all the drugs they give people with HIV.

[slipnslide]

I couldn't agree with you more. It is the stigma that they put on men who have sex with men that forces them to be secretive and deceptive about it. That is what leads to men having risky sex with partners they don't know.

They make the choice to have risky sex. No one makes that choice for them. Your statement appears to imply that they are required to have sex, and if they have to be secretive about it, it's going to be risky. That assumption is flawed on many levels.

The stigma exists BECAUSE man-on-man sex is so much more efficient a disease vector than heterosexual sex.

This is a behavioural problem, and we have to address the behaviour. Not fucking strangers and always using protection is incredibly easy to do.

[Pasadenacpl2]

Holy crap. I agree.

Pasa

[slipnslide]

Now excuse us while Pasa and I skip off into the sunset hand in hand.

[drugstore cowboy]

The stigma exists BECAUSE man-on-man sex is so much more efficient a disease vector than heterosexual sex.

This is a behavioural problem, and we have to address the behaviour. Not fucking strangers and always using protection is incredibly easy to do.

Tell that to all of the Heterosexual men and women who I've met who have STDs or who became HIV+ from having sex. Heterosexual sex is also an excellent disease vector.

Most people in the world who are HIV+ or who are living with AIDS are heterosexual and they got it from unprotected sex.

You can have safer sex with a stranger or partner and even if they are HIV+ as long as you use a condom correctly and it doesn't break you're not going to get infected.

There are tons of no risk or low risk things you can do sexually to a man or woman that aren't going to put you at risk for getting infected with HIV.

[softfruit]

I suspect the issue with people in their 20s may be more about the quality of HIV meds now - when I was first coming out and made my way into LGB spaces there was a lot more fear about the impact HIV would have on your life and lots of volunteer led peer education to get messages out there from people who'd recently watched their friends die.

We seem to be a lot more relaxed now, so if you're maybe 23 or something then a fairly long life with HIV has basically always seemed to be a possibility since as far back as you can remember? Which would in turn make 'risky' behaviour a lot more appealing / less unappealing.

[pepperjack]

Another disconcerting Canadian HIV report:

Ottawa HIV cases jump: report (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/08/09/ottawa-hiv-increase.html)

They can't be more clear than, "...and nearly nine out of every 10 cases is a man. The main risk factor, according to the report, is men who have sex with men."

How is this happening? This is a nation's capital with free access to screening clinics including one dedicated to men who have sex with men. From my discussions with the staff at these clinics I've learned that oral sex is not considered an HIV risk. That must mean that a lot of guys are having condom-less anal sex - how do they do this without concern?

Does anyone think technology can be contributing to this problem? It is so easy now for guys to have a few too many drinks and fire up social media platforms to find sex - a new and incredibly convenient phenomenon. Easy access, impaired judgement. . .

Whatever is behind this, it's incredibly discouraging.

cry me a river! Want some cheese & crackers with that whine ur having?

[IanBorthwick]

cry me a river! Want some cheese & crackers with that whine ur having?

If you were an ice Cream flavor, you'd be Filberts and DICK.

[pepperjack]

If you were an ice Cream flavor, you'd be Filberts and DICK.

no ad/profile just like slipnslide; gutless.