Denial = Death
Just seen the original documentary about "bug chasers" by Louise Hogarth. Young gay men seeking out the HIV virus to "get the infection over with". Reasoning that they'll get it eventually anyway, so they might as well have control over when they get it. The ultimate fear of failure response. With fear of failure, you get people not studying so that -if they fail- it's not because they were stupid but because they didn't study. No need to constantly worry about it anymore once you've got it. For some it's also blatant suicide. The easy way to commit suicide as it were. It creates a sense of belonging, apparently.
HIV prevention has failed for many gay men. The numbers are on the rise again. Asking about someone's HIV status or proclaiming your own HIV negativity is not-done because it makes HIV positive men feel uncomfortable, because it feels as if you're saying something's wrong with their life. It's offensive. Has HIV prevention become offensive?
HIV positive people should not be shunned or treated as lepers. But neither should negative people want to "become" one of them or feel that it's only a matter of time before they get infected too. The matter was raised in the documentary that if you refused to bareback (have sex without a condom), it was as if you were saying something was wrong with being HIV positive. Well, it's a fatal illness... it's like saying cancer is jolly, there's nothing "wrong" with cancer. There's nothing wrong with HIV positive people as persons, but they are ill. No sense in denying it.
I've bookmarked a psychological essay on it. Will be reading that sometime this week, too tired now.
After "silence", now it seems that it's more a matter of "Denial" is death.
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Just seen the original documentary about "bug chasers" by Louise Hogarth. Young gay men seeking out the HIV virus to "get the infection over with". Reasoning that they'll get it eventually anyway, so they might as well have control over when they get it. The ultimate fear of failure response. With fear of failure, you get people not studying so that -if they fail- it's not because they were stupid but because they didn't study. No need to constantly worry about it anymore once you've got it. For some it's also blatant suicide. The easy way to commit suicide as it were. It creates a sense of belonging, apparently.
HIV prevention has failed for many gay men. The numbers are on the rise again. Asking about someone's HIV status or proclaiming your own HIV negativity is not-done because it makes HIV positive men feel uncomfortable, because it feels as if you're saying something's wrong with their life. It's offensive. Has HIV prevention become offensive?
HIV positive people should not be shunned or treated as lepers. But neither should negative people want to "become" one of them or feel that it's only a matter of time before they get infected too. The matter was raised in the documentary that if you refused to bareback (have sex without a condom), it was as if you were saying something was wrong with being HIV positive. Well, it's a fatal illness... it's like saying cancer is jolly, there's nothing "wrong" with cancer. There's nothing wrong with HIV positive people as persons, but they are ill. No sense in denying it.
I've bookmarked a psychological essay on it. Will be reading that sometime this week, too tired now.
After "silence", now it seems that it's more a matter of "Denial" is death.
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