Myth; AIDS is a gay disease!!!

[Blue]

What I find interesting is that I was driving truck in the mid to late 80's and, among truckers it was never a gay disease- it was a needle user's disease.

The other problem is that HIV positive and AIDS are synonymous to the uneducated. Most that haven't been close to it assume that if you are HIV positive, you have AIDS, not true but that is one area education is lacking.

[EvenOlderButWiser]

There were, and still are, people out there that considered AIDS as a disease that actually linked to somebodys lifestyle.

HIV/AIDS is a disease thats linked to peoples lifestyle.

However what people seem to forget though that is that that lifestyle can be straight or gay, and its more closely linked to people behaving irresponsibly with new sexual partners irrespective of their orientation.

I still read personal adverts in places like Craiglist, from teenagers who are clearly completely ignorant of the dangers they are putting themselves and any prospective sexual partner in. It really saddens me when I read them, and it hits home that there doesn't seem to be any education in this area that scares them

I guess my point is that I only see proactive HIV awareness campaigns from volunteers working in the gay community, but thats clearly underfunded and not getting to the audience it needs to. I suspect thats why some people still assume is a gay thing...

ObW
x

[EvenOlderButWiser]

Absolutely, mum... Particularly dire situation in South Africa... And men who don't own up to their carelessness or are too uneducated to understand how to protect themselves and their partners (females mostly)... In the Congo, in the war zones there are so many children who are taken in as sex slaves (both male and female) that the disease is likely to spread to those people too, whose lives are already ruined by being serially raped. It is alarming.

Its not just a SA or DRC thing, its everywhere in Africa, and one of the biggest reasons for that is unfortunately because of one thing. The stance the Catholic church takes on the use of birth protection.

ObW
x

[Kiid]

Use a condom!