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Originally Posted by JoeTarheel
Atlanta is no more of a "hotbed for HIV" than any other large city with a large gay population. I'm not sure where that is coming from, but it's false.
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It's just an educated guess of mine (I didn't say it was a fact), stemming from a course I took on STDs that covered HIV.
I don't think the large gay population factor is as significant a factor as you're making it out to be. But maybe I'm wrong. What I was taught was that certain states have higher HIV rates than others. And that in many of those states the HIV rate is driven by one or more
cities in there respective states.
So, in Illinois, the City of Chicago is probably the primary driver of Illinois HIV rate.
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I don't think that the problem is the message, but is more about the DL among black males.
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I'm not sure how much blame I want to put on or how much of the cause of HIV spread I want to attribute to DL (for whites it's called "being in the closet") men. My professor with a Ph.D. in clinical laboratory science that primarily taught my STD course, didn't put much blame on them at all even for its spread among black women. He seemed to suggest that's a message being spread by the media to appeal to our prejudices.
I'm not sure DL men having sex with gay men is the primary vehicle spreading HIV among
gay men anyways.
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I'm sure the OP appreciates your concerns, but all that really matters is that an individual practices safe sex.
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To a certain extent that may be true. To an extent. But some might argue that "save sex" as it applies to having multiple sexual partners, or "dating" and have sex with those you date, involves more than just using a latex condom.
Condoms break too. I know from personal experience as well.
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It doesn't matter how many people in city X have HIV or unsafe sex or that certain races are more prone to the spread of HIV. An individual has control over his/her actions, therefore has control over his/her health.
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Now see... I would disagree.
If I'm male and dating and having sex with black males as my preference, and said group is a relatively small population within the population of a city, then it would be a concern of mine if 40% (or especially higher) of the black males in that specific population I'm dating and having sex in are HIV positive all the while still outwardly healthy and productive and successful in life.
One also has to be cognizant of the fact homosexual men tend to have a lot of sexual partners throughout their lives. During the height of the HIV epidemic in the U.S. some of them had 20 or 200 sexual partners. White gay males began drastically altering that level of sexual behavior when they learned that HIV was being spread through some of that.
Drugs and alcohol are also scientifically/statistically linked to the spread of STDs. So, if adults are going to be "adult enough to talk about safe sex" then they we probably should be adult enough to acknowledge what "a good night life" generally connotes to people. It usually is an indirect way of saying one wants to socialize with lots of people (usually strangers) while consuming alcohol (to alter their state of mind), maybe listen to music in the background, and potentially hooking up with one or more persons to have sex with.
But this is probably derailing the thread. I just view the HIV rate among black, gay, males as so high currently, that any black males engaging in dating and having sex with other black males needs to be cognizant of the current (maybe one day there won't be any threat--I doubt it though, due the Red Queen hypothesis and the rate at which bacteria and viruses can evolve) threats out their laying in wait for them if they slip up.
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