 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / AIDS / April 2006[News] Study unearths the reasons gay men risk HIV (UK.Gay.com)
Subject: [News] Study unearths the reasons gay men risk HIV (UK.Gay.com) http://uk.gay.com/headlines/9809 Study unearths the reasons gay men risk HIV Gus Cairns, www.guscairns.com Wednesday 5 April, 2006 11:22 | More from this date | Today's headlines A new study has revealed a fascinating insight into the reasons why gay men take the sexual risks that lad them to catch HIV. INSIGHT, presented at the 12th conference of the British HIV Association (BHIVA) in Brighton, is conducted by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), which aims to tease out differences in the behaviour and motivations of gay men who catch HIV and ones who stay negative. The HPA's Dr Gillian Elam took a group of 75 gay men who had tested positive within two years of a previous negative test and compared them with 159 men whose most recent test was negative, again within two years of their previous negative one. Unsurprisingly she found that the HIV positive ones had taken more sexual risks. Eight out of10 of the positive guys had had unprotected sex as the passive partner since their last test, and seven out of 10 as the active partner: just under half of the HIV negative guys had done the same. But it was the interviews Elam did with a subset of men about their reasons for having unsafe sex that were really revealing. They showed that gay men have a multiplicity of reasons for taking sexual risks, so that no one prevention strategy will fit all. Elam divided gay men into various groups. First there were men who'd caught HIV within a steady relationship. A common theme was that condoms were seen as a barrier to intimacy, love and trust. People made comments like "We've got this thing in the way...it makes it feel like a process...it takes away a lot of the emotion." There were steady partners who thought each other was negative. Here the risk was when men thought their partner was monogamous and he wasn't, or where they decided to drop condoms too soon in a relationship to really establish trust. A common theme was that people didn't think they or their partner were the 'type' to get HIV. One said: "It shouldn't have really been me ... my friends...have lots of sexual partners and take drugs ... I'm the most reserved out of the people I know." There were couples where one knew he was positive from the start, and the negative guy decided to risk unsafe sex. Here having unprotected sex was a conscious trade-off between the risk of HIV and the need for intimacy. People also rationalised that repeated negative test results meant they were 'immune'. Then there were couples where one partner caught HIV and the other felt suddenly distant from them. One said: "There was no 'f.ck me without a condom, I want to be positive sort of thing'. It is the intimacy ... We had that intimacy and then it was just suddenly taken away." Another group were people who caught HIV through casual sex. Elam divided these into guys who'd intentionally not used condoms and ones where they felt they should have done, but had allowed unprotected sex to happen without one in the heat of the moment. Intentional non-users were seeking positive things through not using condoms: they saw it as a signal of love and trust, at least potentially. Elam commented that the need for 'love and trust' and for 'submission, sleaze and adventures' often went together. One said: "There's sort of hope for something," meaning that having bareback sex was a sort of signal that he was emotionally available. Men rationalised their way into unsafe sex. Younger guys told themselves that if a partner was well-groomed and 'fit' he wouldn't have HIV. Older guys told themselves that HIV would not have such a negative impact because HIV would have no worse an impact than other facets of ageing. Then there were the 'accidental' non-condom-users. There were guys who normally tried to use condoms but who had accidents, not in the sense of condoms splitting, but in giving up their normal safer-sex behaviour in the heat of the moment. Some talked about wanting to please a particularly attractive or confident partner. This was the group who were most likely to talk about depression, drink and drugs as being factors in HIV infection. One said: "Depression really influenced my sexual behaviour... You go out, you want to be abused almost... you might as well let anybody do what they want to do to you." Elam said there were themes common to all. Many men talked of condoms reducing intimacy, about not being the 'sort' who caught HIV, and about negative test results giving a sense of false security. Many 'tops' thought they were at no risk, not lower risk Above all was the sense that giving people more information about HIV risk wasn't the answer. Elam's interviewees had high levels of knowledge about HIV transmission. If there was a common theme, it was that catching HIV often involves a conscious decision to trade safety for the possibility of love, approval and fun. David Acosta Coordinator of Prevention Programs AIDS Activities Coordinating Office Philadelphia Department of Public Health 1101 Market Street 9 Floor Philadelphia, PA 19107 215 685-5650 215 685-5293 Fax david.acosta at phila.gov I can understand being desperate, and a lot of pressure behind not saying 'no'. But the risk isn't worth it. I'll continue to make sure any partner I find is tested and cleared. Especially quickly, before any true feelings can foster. I can see love making it worth the risk, but then if the realtionship fails, and you have it, not only are you stuck with it now but you can also spread it. And possibly without knowing that you are. This is how it's become and epidemic, because of rushed decissions and choices. Be slow with love, because you can have your whole life to make slow choices. By risking getting HIV/AIDS you will risk giving it to others, and no one wants that. If you take the risk, and get HIV, then you take the responsibilty of not spreading it to anyone else. This could be such an easy STD to avoid if people would just get tested frequently. We could stop this in one generation, but no one is willing to change, or get tested. It's to out of the way, especially in the 'heat of the moment'. So that's my two cents. Get tested, and this could be a disease of tomorrow. Kioseth wrote... > I can understand being desperate... Among gay men, "desperate" means having been unable to find a sex partner for three whole hours. > ............. This could be such an easy STD to avoid if people would > just get tested frequently. We could stop this in one generation, but > no one is willing to change, or get tested. It's to out of the way, > especially in the 'heat of the moment'. So that's my two cents. Get > tested, and this could be a disease of tomorrow. Your idea is good, but frequent testing among gay men means testing every few hours, something that is not practical at the moment. Your partner's HIV- status at breakfast bears no relation to his status at lunchtime, and certainly not by dinnertime. If you can develop an instant saliva test with 99.9999% accuracy and costs about 5 cents per use then you might stand a chance of containing this epidemic among gay men. > Kioseth wrote... > > I can understand being desperate... > > Among gay men, "desperate" means having been unable to find a sex > partner for three whole hours. From reading your comments, it would suggest that gay men have no difficulty finding partners. And in the context of men will be men you are probably right. But it is never the number of partners that necessarily puts one at risk to HIV or any other STD, it is the safeness of the activity involved. If no fluids are exchanged there is zero risk, for example. That doesn't mean; however, your kindness of thought wasn't appreciated. > > ............. This could be such an easy STD to avoid if people would > > just get tested frequently. We could stop this in one generation, but [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > per use then you might stand a chance of containing this epidemic > among gay men. Another brilliant comment and while you reference gay men at the end, it really applies to the global population - but nonetheless brilliantly stated. Your love and care of the gay commmuity is so thoughtfully expressed and I thank you. > I can understand being desperate, and a lot of pressure behind not > saying 'no'. But the risk isn't worth it. Well, desperate people usually do desperate things so how can you say you understand being desperate. > I'll continue to make sure > any partner I find is tested and cleared. Well, if you aren't doing bareback, then why does it matter if the person was tested if you wear a condom? If the guy you slept with last night you have been seeing for a week or two following his tests and being cleared, if he slept with someone other than you in the afternoon, then all those tests and being clear is meaningless if the fellow he slept with was HIV+. > Especially quickly, before > any true feelings can foster. Millions of men go to the nearest bar every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night looking for women and lots of them sleep with these women quickly before any true feelings can be fostered. Some wear condoms and some don't. > I can see love making it worth the risk, but then if the realtionship fails, > and you have it, not only are you stuck with it now but you can also spread it. Well, that is where you and I differ. I don't think any love making is ever worth the risk and that is why you and I should always wear a condom. Relationships fail all the time. It is part of the process. Even when people find the perfect partner or as my brother puts it, she will do, 45 percent of all marriages end in divorce. You haven't mentioned perhaps the most important factor. The younger you are, the less history you have and as a consequence you think you can survive war at the front unscathed, make love to women without getting them pregnant, and winning the lottery. Aids doesn't even register because you are not at risk and the women you sleep with are clean and don't sleep around so no need for you to wear a condom, right? > And possibly without > knowing that you are. This is how it's become and epidemic, because of > rushed decissions and choices. Men aren't making rushed decisions or having rushed discussions. They go to a bar, find a woman who looks decent, drinks until they have enough courage to place them in close proximity and then starts chatting her up and buying her drinks over many hours offering her hints and waiting for physical or verbal hints in return. You can never rush a woman unless she is a prostitute and then that is the last thing you want to do because she is in a greater hurry than you are. > Be slow with love, because you can have > your whole life to make slow choices. You can be as slow a lover as you want. You can pick the finest woman or man that you can find, you can build a life of love and happiness together, the finest house, the finest friends, the best that money can buy, but sometimes people you or your partner have affairs that last one time or 20 years. Sometimes they are risk free and sometimes the bring AIDS into the home. Sometimes it has nothing to do with sex but with drugs. Conversely, you can both sleep around but keep a standard of never exchanging fluids, mouth or otherwise, and always wearing a condom keeping everyone disease risk free and happy with long healthy lives. > By risking getting HIV/AIDS you > will risk giving it to others, and no one wants that. Well, of course, that is true, but no one need get aids no matter how much sick minded uncaring mentally damaged people try to spread the disease because you and and the rest of the world don't take risks or chances. It is that simple, cheap and practical to do. > If you take the > risk, and get HIV, then you take the responsibilty of not spreading it > to anyone else. Well, that is the problem, people who take the risk may be less than capable of taking the responsibility later of not spreading to people who are perfectly capable of taking precautions but don't. For instance, there was a guy from another country who came to Canada and spread HIV to many women but the women may have been deemed by society as less than informed and enlightened about the HIV risk partly because it may have been alleged that the gentleman was not telling the truth about his status and the women's education may have sadly been lacking in good judgment or experience from a global perspective. > This could be such an easy STD to avoid if people would > just get tested frequently. I think the world has established that the only benefit to being tested is that you can be prosecuted criminally if caught spreading the disease to others because you have such knowledge. But tested or not, if one only has safe sex, then the lies and misinformations don't likely kill anyone. > We could stop this in one generation, but > no one is willing to change, or get tested. Perhaps you are a little too optimistic. If STD's have been around sin the time of Christ and still are going strong, then I doubt they will be gone tomorrow. Millions of men and women have changed and many have been tested for what it is worth. But remember key to this is that the same guys they send to the front to face the enemy and die are the same people running to the bar to get laid at any cost. The sex drive of the young is stronger than the mind else the world would be different. > It's to out of the way, > especially in the 'heat of the moment'. So that's my two cents. Get > tested, and this could be a disease of tomorrow. It is a disease of yesterday already because nobody talks about it. There is little or no advertising or commercials about it. Few people are wearing condoms. Sex education has not changed since the beginning of time thanks to Christian values.
|
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.