girls are getting AIDS
Unpublished post, originally written 12/2/08 for my now defunct state of sex education blog on gURL.
December 1st was the 20th World AIDS Day. It also marked almost 30
years since the emergence of the AIDS crisis. Yet, despite the fact
that AIDS has been something we’ve all grown up with, and something we
know how to prevent, the virus continues to affects millions of people
around the world — a lot of them women and girls.
But
for a lot of people, AIDS hasn’t shaken the early stigma and
association with certain “risk groups” like gay men, IV drug users and
sex workers.
This was a stigma that was reinforced as the crisis emerged in the
1980s. In fact, in 1987, President Reagan’s administration told the
public that if they didn’t fall into one of those categories, then they
had nothing to fear from AIDS.
The following year, Cosmopolitan Magazine published an article from
a doctor assuring women they could not contract AIDS from vaginal
sex with men!
Even today, I see this attitude. A student of mine, a man in
his 20s, just got his first AIDS test this year, despite having had
unprotected sex with many women. Why had he waited? “I”m not
gay,” he said. “And I don’t sleep with dirty girls.”
Regardless
this guy should have known that anyone can get AIDS, and tragically a
lot of people still do. Today, a lot of those people are actually
young women. Here are some facts from the CDC:
- The largest number of HIV/AIDS diagnoses during recent years was for women aged 15–39.
- High-risk heterosexual contact was the source of 80% of these newly diagnosed infections.
- According to a recent CDC study of more than 19,500 patients
with HIV in 10 US cities, women were slightly less likely than men to
receive prescriptions for the most effective treatments for HIV
infection. - A woman is significantly more likely than a man to contract HIV infection during vaginal intercourse.
AIDS
is not someone else’s problem and the crisis isn’t over. So take
care of yourself. If you are sexually active, use condoms and get tested.
Do any of you have experiences with HIV/AIDS you’d like to share?
