662 lines
40 KiB
Plaintext
662 lines
40 KiB
Plaintext
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Misinformation and Manipulation
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An Anarchist Critique Of the Politics of AIDS
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by Joe Peacott
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A B.A.D. Press Publication
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BAD Press Pamphlet No. 1
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All of the statistics cited in this pamphlet can be found in the
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articles, journals, and pamphlets listed in the annotated bibliography
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found at the back of this pamphlet.
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Joe Peacott
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Boston Anarchist Drinking Brigade
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PO Box 1323
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Cambridge, MA 02238
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Internet: bbrigade@world.std.com
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NO COPYRIGHT
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Please send two copies of any review or reprint of all or part of
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this pamphlet to BAD Press. Please note that it was the electronic
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version.
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The Boston Anarchist Drinking Brigade is a small band of
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anarchists who meet weekly in a local bar to socialize.
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First Printing 121 copies. June 1989
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Second Printing 200 copies. September 1989
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Additional Printings 1990, 1991, 1992
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Electronic Printing "infinite" copies. October 1992
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Published by B.A.D. Press, Boston.
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Layout by Runaway Productions
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Electronic version by Blaine
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Introduction
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AIDS, like all diseases, is having an effect not only on
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those who have AIDS, but on society as a whole. There is a
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continuous flow of articles in the press, TV specials, brochures
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from AIDS organizations, and even ads on the subway, all of which
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make AIDS an issue in most people's minds. Unfortunately, much,
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if not most, of the information people are receiving is inaccurate,
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incomplete, and/or manipulative, including that put out by AIDS
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"service" organizations and the AIDS activist groups. The two major
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pieces of misinformation that almost everyone seems to accept are
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that AIDS is the most important and dangerous health care problem
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facing Americans at present, and that action by the government is
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the way to solve the problems caused by AIDS. This pamphlet will
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argue that: while a serious problem, AIDS is not the plague that
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the mainstream press, government and AIDS organizations say it is;
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most people are at little risk of HIV infection and AIDS; and not
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only is government activity not the solution, but eliminating
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government intervention from our lives is the best way to fight
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AIDS.
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Scope of the Problem
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Both the mainstream news media and most of the radical press,
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gay and straight alike, continually describe AIDS as an epidemic,
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or simple as 'the' epidemic. While AIDS, like many other diseases,
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certainly fits the medical definition of an epidemic, the emphasis
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on this term serves only to frighten people, not to increase their
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understanding of the disease and its transmission. When people are
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afraid it is more difficult for them to look at and talk about a
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problem objectively. And an objective perspective on AIDS is sorely
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lacking in this country at present. The way statistics about AIDS
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are presented in most of the news media and medical literature also
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contributes to the panic atmosphere associated with this disease by
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greatly exaggerating the impact of AIDS compared to that of other
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diseases and causes of death in the U.S.
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Statistics for AIDS are generally presented in terms of the
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number of people who have gotten the disease and/or died from it
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since the outbreak began in this country. This makes it difficult
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to compare AIDS statistics to those for other diseases/causes of
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death, which are generally reported as cases per year. But even using
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the government figures in this form, and comparing them to figures
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for other diseases, one can illustrate the slanted way in which the
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scope of the AIDS "epidemic" is being depicted. In the U.S., breast
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cancer kills 42,000 a year; 94,000 die in accidents, 46,000 in car
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accidents; 466,000 die of cancer; and almost 1,000,000 die of heart
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disease. AIDS has killed 49,976 (as of 2/28/89) since the outbreak
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began; 11,000 people died of AIDS in 1987. The point is not that
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AIDS is not a problem, but simply that it is one of the many diseases
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and dangers people are at risk of, and significantly less dangerous
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for most people than many other things. Many more gay men will die of
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heart disease this year than will die of AIDS, but I have yet to see
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an article in the gay press advising homosexual men to avoid
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high-risk eating activities, such as eating meat and dairy products,
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while we are constantly told to avoid any remotely risky sex.
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The "experts" also frequently make predictions about how many
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will get AIDS, are infected with HIV (the virus, human
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immunodeficiency virus, that many believe to be the cause of AIDS),
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or will go on to get AIDS after being infected with HIV. The games
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played with statistics are even more sophisticated and subtle in this
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area. Last year, the press reported on a study that supposedly showed
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that 99% of people infected with HIV would go on to get AIDS.
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However, if one reads this study one finds that although the
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researchers favor the 99% figure, they concede that the true number
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who will get AIDS could fall anywhere between 38% and 100%, according
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to their statistical manipulations, and that they are only 90%
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confident that even this interval is accurate. Most scientists and
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statisticians demand a 95%-99% confidence level before accepting and
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reporting results as significant. The authors also clearly state that
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their estimate of the number of gay men who will develop AIDS after
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HIV infection "should still be treated cautiously". Additionally, as
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of January 1, 1987, of six men in this study who seroconverted
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(developed antibodies to HIV; this usually occurs within a few months
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of infection) in 1978, only three had developed AIDS, only one out of
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eight infected in 1979 had AIDS, and three out of twelve infected in
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1980 had come down with AIDS, all of which argues against the
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researchers' contention that most persons infected with HIV will
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develop AIDS, since they also maintain that the average time elapsed
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from infection with HIV to diagnosis with AIDS is less than eight
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years. In other words, the news media took a study containing
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questionable methodology and conclusions, reported the authors'
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speculation as fact, and did not mention either the doubts voiced by
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the authors themselves about their work, or the criticism of this
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report by others. This is an example of how AIDS hysteria is
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manufactured.
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Studies that indicate that many or most people infected with
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HIV will not develop AIDS are given much less exposure in the media
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than those that paint a more grim picture. There have been no page
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one stories, about the group of men studied at the New York Blood
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Center, 20-25% of whom have no measurable immune dysfunction after
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ten years of infection with HIV. And who has heard about the study
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showing that only 36% of a group of HIV positive men studied for over
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seven years have gone on to develop AIDS? And what newspaper reports
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pointed out the inconsistencies in the study I discussed above, where
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the numbers in the study group developing AIDS after HIV infection
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were not consistent with the researchers' own conclusions and
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indicated that many, if not most, HIV-infected people may remain AIDS
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free. While these studies do not prove that most people with HIV
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infection will not develop AIDS, there is no evidence from other
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studies to prove that they will. In other words, no one knows how many
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HIV-infected people will get AIDS, but that does not stop the press
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and AIDS organizations from presenting the worst possible scenarios
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when they talk about this disease.
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A final example of the statistical manipulations to which AIDS is
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subjected is the revised estimates of the HIV infection rate in New
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York. Last year the New York Dept. of Health cut its estimate of the
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number of New Yorkers infected with HIV by one half. They justified
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this by using a new model for estimating HIV infection rates based on
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epidemiologic studies of homosexual men in San Francisco. Both this
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model and their previous model could be defended scientifically, but
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produced numbers that were not even close, showing that they really
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don't know what they are talking about and their various estimates are
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simply guesses. Despite this, much of the press, of course, simply
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accepted these new figures as true and reported them as such. Many in
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the AIDS "service" and activist "communities" attacked the revision as
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politically motivated, to be used as a justification for cutbacks in
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AIDS funding. Almost no one pointed out that these numbers were really
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no more valid or invalid than previous ones. The press believes and
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reports as fact whatever the government says, and the AIDS
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organizations accept whatever will lead to more funding and reject
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what may lead to cutbacks. Neither group however, seems interested in
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facts, especially if they indicate that "the epidemic" is not as
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fearsome as they contend it is.
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Many people are infected with HIV, many have AIDS and many will
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develop AIDS. But many more people will die of other causes, and
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there is no convincing evidence that AIDS will ever surpass heart
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disease or cancer as killers of Americans. Despite this, people are
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daily subjected to AIDS horror stories, much more dramatic and
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terrifying than reports of death and disability caused by other, more
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common, diseases. This is done for two major reasons: some wish to
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use AIDS to further their anti-sex and anti-homosexual agenda; others
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wish to use an exaggerated fear of AIDS to increase government
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funding of activities concerning AIDS, and thereby further their
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careers. Neither group is necessarily interested in the truth about
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the disease, its incidence, or its transmission. People need to be
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more careful about believing what they read and hear about AIDS and
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not just accept what they are told by the "experts".
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Who's at risk?
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We are constantly warned these days that everyone needs to be
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more careful in every sexual encounter we have: we need to practice
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"safer" sex; we need to use rubbers or dental dams at all times; we
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need to have sex with fewer partners; some even say we need to marry
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and be "faithful" to one partner for our entire lives. We are told
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that there are no high-risk groups of people, only high-risk
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activities. But is everyone really at equal risk of HIV infection?
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In 1986 the Centers for Disease Control [CDC] changed its
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method of presenting statistics and began to present the figures for
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people who have AIDS who were "born in countries in which
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heterosexual transmission is believed to play a major role"
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(primarily people from Haiti, with some from Central Africa) as part
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of the "heterosexual cases" category. This category had previously
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included only non-Haitian/non-Central African people who "have had
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heterosexual contact with high risk individuals" (IV drug users and
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men who have sex with other men). When these two categories were
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combined, the number of "heterosexual cases" more than doubled and
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the press duly reported the "explosion" in AIDS among heterosexuals,
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and has continued to devote a lot of coverage to heterosexual AIDS
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ever since. But has anything really changed? Has there been and will
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there be a major outbreak of AIDS among non-IV drug using heterosexual
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people?
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The number of heterosexual cases reported by the CDC as of 2/28/89
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is only 4%, the same percentage as when the definition of heterosexual
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cases was changed in 1986. Not much of an explosion. The "doubling"
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of heterosexual cases in 1986 was not a real change, it was merely a
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statistical "blip" caused by combining two previously separate
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categories. There are few heterosexual cases now, and although there
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may be an increase in the future due to the increasing numbers of
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people who have acquired HIV infection through IV drug use, most of
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whom are heterosexual and can infect their sex partners, there is no
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reason to predict a major increase in AIDS among heterosexuals who do
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not use IV drugs or have regular sex partners who do. Even Surgeon
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General Koop, who is pushing the lifelong monogamy line, says that he
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is "quite sure that we won't have an explosion in the heterosexual
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population.".
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There have been several studies in the last two years that have
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emphasized the low risk of contracting AIDS for most heterosexuals. A
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study in Denver of approximately 1,000 persons seen in a VD clinic,
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showed 'zero' cases of HIV infection in low-risk individuals, i.e.,
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non-IV drug using heterosexuals who did not have sex with IV drug
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users. A similar study in Seattle of 343 people showed no infections
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in persons who were not homosexual men, and a Queens, N.Y. study
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showed one infection among 200 low-risk persons. These data indicate
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that there are indeed low-risk people, and that most people in the
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U.S. fit the low-risk description. An article in JAMA ['Journal of
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the American Medical Association'] last year estimated the risk of
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acquiring HIV infection during rubber-free penis-vagina sex with a
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low risk person is approximately 1 in 5 million for one encounter,
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and 1 in 16,000 for 500 encounters. The researchers stated that "the
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risk of AIDS from a low-risk encounter is about the same as the risk
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of being killed in a traffic accident while driving ten miles on the
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way to that encounter." These articles, whose information is certainly
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important to the discussions of transmission of AIDS through sex,
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although covered briefly in the press, are seldom mentioned in
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discussions of what safe sex is and who needs to practice it.
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Prostitutes are considered by some to be a high risk group for
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HIV infection and the Public Health "Service" lists sex with a
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prostitute as a high-risk activity. As with so much we read about
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AIDS, this is simply not true. CDC studies show that only prostitutes
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who use IV drugs or have ongoing sexual relationships with IV drug
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users have become infected. Another study showed that prostitute
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women in San Francisco had the same rate of infection as other women
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who had multiple partners or partners at risk of HIV infection. There
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is no evidence that prostitutes who do not use IV drugs and are not
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sex partners of IV drug users are any more at risk than other women
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with multiple partners.
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Additionally, there is no evidence to back up assumptions that
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prostitutes are "spreading" HIV infection and AIDS to their
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customers; 80% of prostitutes use rubbers some or all of the time,
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and most of the time they engage in low risk sex activities such as
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hand jobs and blow jobs anyway. Despite the fact that street
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prostitutes see approximately 1,500 customers a year, 20% of men hire
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prostitutes regularly, and 70% hire them occasionally, as of September
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1987, only 33 men (out of more than 40,000 persons who had AIDS at the
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time) whose primary "risk" factor was sex with prostitutes had been
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diagnosed with AIDS. COYOTE, an organization of prostitutes, estimates
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that if prostitutes were truly spreading AIDS, by 1988, "at least
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100,000 straight, white, middle-class businessmen would have been
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diagnosed" with AIDS. Clearly, this hasn't happened.
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Despite the availability of the above information, the U.S. Public
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Health "Service", most of the press, both gay/lesbian and straight,
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virtually all the AIDS organizations, and even ads in the subway
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(virtually all of which appear to be directed at non-drug using
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heterosexuals), take the position that straight people are at high
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risk for AIDS and need to take the same precautions when having sex
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that gay men and IV drug users need to take. They spread the myth
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that there are no high-risk groups of people, but only high risk
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activities. However, one of the studies cited above convincingly
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argues that, because the rate of infection is so low among low-risk
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groups, unprotected sex with a low-risk person is safer than sex
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with a condom with someone in a high-risk group. But most AIDS
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"experts" and activists seem unwilling to discuss this view, and
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prefer to spread the myth that "we're all at risk."
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There appear to be two main motives for putting forth this view.
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Some wish to scare heterosexuals into either celibacy or monogamy
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and marriage. Others, especially AIDS organizations seem to be
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encouraging this view in order to increase the amount of government
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money they can obtain, reasoning that the government won't fund
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their activities unless they think heterosexual non-drug users might
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get sick as well, since they really don't care about queers and drug
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users. Although this may be true, and the strategy effective (there
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certainly is a lot more AIDS money coming from governments these
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days), it does not justify the misinformation and fear being spread.
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Unfortunately, the AIDS bureaucracy, both governmental and non-
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governmental seems more interested in making rules for others to
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live by than in providing people with the truthful information they
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need to make informed choices about what activities they want to
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engage in and what risks they wish to take.
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Safe sex and queers
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Advice about "safer" sex for men who have sex with men, although
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directed at a group of people who are truly at high risk for HIV
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infection, is no less full of misinformation and half-truths than
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guidelines for heterosexuals. In some ways the "safer sex"
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literature for men who have sex with men is even worse than that
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directed at heterosexuals. At least the "experts" generally aren't
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telling heterosexual men and women not to fuck when they have sex
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(although, of course they should only have monogamous, preferably
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marital, sex), but are simply telling them to use rubbers when they
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do. Much "safer" sex advice to men, however, suggests not only using
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latex in all sexual contacts, but even encourages men to give up
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homosexual sex entirely, and instead learn to "eroticize" non-sexual
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activities. A recent edition of 'Next', a magazine distributed free
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in homosexual bars in Boston, in a particularly offensive and anti-sex
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series of articles lists the following as "life affirming erotic
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options" in their "sensual buffet": flirting, kissing, phone sex,
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sensuous feeding, and consensual exhibitionism and voyeurism. The
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writer also recommends dirty talk, leather, lubricants (he doesn't
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specify what is being lubricated), and bubble baths. We are encouraged
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not to "screw up something perfect" like playing with whipped cream by
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introducing those much talked about "bodily fluids". These articles,
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and workshops sponsored by AIDS organizations encourage men to learn
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to consider non-sexual activities satisfying substitutes for fucking
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and sucking. Michael Callen of the People With AIDS Coalition in New
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York is one of the few AIDS activists who oppose this attempt to
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eroticize non-sex activities. He has said "what I find so pathetic is
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the cheery sloganeering of the 'Great Sex is Healthy Sex' campaigns.
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For those of us who proudly referred to ourselves as 'hot sex pigs',
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'healthy' sex is definitely 'not' great sex. It is a depressing
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consolation prize and I sometimes want to smack those who pretend
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otherwise. Yes, if we want to stay alive, we 'have' to practice safe
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sex. But let's not pretend it's the real thing."
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In addition to encouraging men to avoid real sex altogether,
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the AIDS educators encourage men to view all sex between men not
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involving a rubber as equally risky, and people who do not share this
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view are portrayed as stupid and irresponsible. But, there is
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evidence that not all sexual activities and not all "exchanges of
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bodily fluids" are equally risky. Getting fucked in the ass, and, to
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a lesser extent, getting fucked in the cunt, appear to be the only
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two high risk sexual activities. A number of studies published in the
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medical literature, for instance, have found a minimal risk of
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becoming infected with HIV from giving blow jobs, or being the fucker
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in rectal sex. A study from 1987 showed essentially no difference in
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rate of HIV infection between men who had given up both fucking and
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sucking and those who had continued to have oral sex (some of whom
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had also continued fucking, but not getting fucked) in the two years
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prior to the start of the study, while those who continued getting
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fucked had a significantly higher rate of HIV infection. Another
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study the same year showed that of 147 HIV-free gay men who gave blow
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jobs, some of whom also swallowed cum, but none of whom fucked, not
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one became infected in six months of follow-up, while 95 out of 1,998
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men who engaged in fucking became infected during the same period. A
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report at a national AIDS conference in 1987 reported that 50 of 522
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men who fucked became infected, but none of the 50 who engaged only
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in blow jobs acquired HIV infection during an 18 month period.
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Despite these encouraging reports, there is evidence that
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cocksucking is not totally risk-free. There have been some reports of
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infection with HIV in men who engage only in oral sex, but the numbers
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are very small, the risk of infection from cocksucking appears to be
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minimal, and getting fucked without a rubber seems to be the most
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risky sexual activity and the primary mode of transmission of HIV
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between men. AIDS activists and educators in several other countries,
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such as Canada, Australia, and some in Britain, as well as the Gay
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Men's Health Crisis [GMHC] group in New York, based on this kind of
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information, consider cocksucking to be a low risk activity. Few AIDS
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educators or activist types in the U.S. are willing to give people
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this kind of information or emphasize the vast difference between
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sucking and fucking. Instead, most AIDS and gay/lesbian groups and
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newspapers, with the exception of GMHC continue to put out the most
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conservative possible safe sex guidelines, listing blow jobs as
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equally risky as fucking, which is simply not true.
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Cocksucking is not the only low risk activity inappropriately
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considered highly risky by the AIDS establishment. Tongue-kissing,
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watersports (pissing), and rimming (licking assholes), activities
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even less risky than cocksucking are considered moderate-to-high risk
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activities by most AIDS organizations. This, combined with the advice
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to shower and have your partner shower, which is often seen in safe
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sex literature [showering does 'nothing' to prevent HIV or other
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sexually transmitted infections) makes me think that there is as much
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concern here with encouraging people to engage in "nicer", "cleaner"
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sexual activities, as there is in preventing HIV infection. It all
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seems awfully anti-sex.
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The anti-sex hysteria has even taken root among homosexual women.
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They are advised by women's and gay/lesbian newspapers, the AIDS
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bureaucrats, and "sexperts" Susie Bright and JoAnn Loulan, that they
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are as much at risk of acquiring HIV infection as everyone else.
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This myth is being spread despite the fact that there have been few
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reports of possible transmission of HIV infection between two women
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in the medical literature, and one report of possible transmission of
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HIV to a man from eating out a woman. The CDC reports only seven
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"probable cases of woman-to-woman transmission" of HIV (but no cases
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of AIDS acquired by woman-to-woman sex), and purveyors of the myth of
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lesbian AIDS like 'The Village Voice' and ACT UP cite only three or
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five cases. Even if the number the CDC cites is accurate, this bears
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out my contention that woman-to-woman sex is nearly risk-free, since
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millions practice woman-to-woman sex, while it appears that no more
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than seven have acquired HIV infection sexually. Yet, homosexual
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women are urged to use rubber dams and gloves and take various other
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|
precautions at all time.
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Most AIDS "experts" and activists are not interested in increasing
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people's awareness of relative risks and coming to their own
|
|
conclusions. They instead wish people to unquestioningly follow the
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|
anti-sex guidelines which these experts have come up with. Certainly
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there are risks involved in cocksucking and eating out women, as well
|
|
as other, even lower-risk activities, which the "safer" sexers advise
|
|
against, but these are much lower than the risks of rectal, and to a
|
|
lesser extent, vaginal, fucking. Despite this, virtually all safe sex
|
|
guidelines describe activities with greatly different levels of risk
|
|
as being equally dangerous. A brochure by the AIDS Action Committee
|
|
in Boston, for example, lists rimming, cocksucking, eating out women,
|
|
and fucking without a rubber in the same category, as high risk
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|
activities. Instead, people should be informed of the relative risks
|
|
of different kinds of sex, and encouraged to make their own choices
|
|
about the risks they are willing to take.
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|
|
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The majority of AIDS educators want no part of such an approach.
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|
At a lesbian/gay health conference in Boston last year, some AIDS
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|
activists confronted AIDS educators at a workshop on safe sex about
|
|
the supposed high level of risk associated with cocksucking. The
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|
educators defended their commitment to discouraging men from sucking
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|
cock, and felt that "changing the rules" would lead men to question
|
|
their credibility (a positive development, in my opinion), and would
|
|
confuse people. They said they preferred the "on me, not in me" rule
|
|
because it was simple and easy. Additionally, when an article
|
|
entitled "I Hate Safe Sex" which questioned the whole anti-sex
|
|
approach of the AIDS establishment appeared in a Boston gay/lesbian
|
|
paper, it was criticized by the AIDS Action Committee, who claimed
|
|
the article would "undermine the efforts of AIDS organizations
|
|
throughout the country". These kinds of responses by AIDS educators
|
|
to criticism of safe sex dogma clearly show their contempt for people
|
|
and their sexual desires, and show that their commitment to their
|
|
"safer" sex ideology outweighs their interest in supplying people
|
|
with honest information.
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|
|
|
The safer-sexers and their allies in government have not confined
|
|
their activities to propagandizing against sex. In a number of cities
|
|
places where men congregate to engage in consensual sex have been
|
|
shut down or driven out of business by the government. In all of
|
|
these cases there has been widespread support for these shutdowns
|
|
among some sectors of the "gay community". In Boston, Jeff Epperly,
|
|
the editor of the local mainstream gay/lesbian paper, 'Bay Windows',
|
|
not only editorialized in favor of the shutdown of the only homosexual
|
|
bathhouse in Boston, he actively collaborated with the city in its
|
|
"investigation" and later closing of the baths. (He has also
|
|
editorialized in favor of cutting down the reeds in a part of a park
|
|
in Boston in order to prevent men from having sex there.) He and one
|
|
of his writers went to the baths, spied on the sexual activities of
|
|
the customers, and informed the city health department of their
|
|
"findings". Epperly later attended meetings with the health department
|
|
officials who subsequently took action against the baths. The idea
|
|
that people were engaging in sex of which he disapproved seems to so
|
|
enrage Epperly and people like him that no restriction of personal
|
|
freedom seems too high a cost (for other people) to pay to prevent
|
|
"unsafe" sex between men.
|
|
|
|
The "safer" sexers tell people that they should engage only in
|
|
totally risk-free sex. And some people feel that attempting to
|
|
totally eliminate risk from their sex lives, even at the expense of
|
|
eliminating sex altogether in some cases, is in fact the appropriate
|
|
strategy. This strikes me as odd, since many of these people are
|
|
willing to take risks in other areas of their lives every day, like
|
|
smoking tobacco, eating meat, driving a car, or even crossing the
|
|
street against the light. Many of us wish to lower our risk of
|
|
acquiring HIV, but are willing to take some risks in order to continue
|
|
having a pleasurable and satisfying sex life. While driving without a
|
|
seatbelt is arguably more risky than wearing one, I find driving more
|
|
comfortable without one. The risk of injury while driving, whether
|
|
strapped in or not, is small, and I'm willing to accept the possibly
|
|
increased, but still small, risk of driving without a seatbelt in
|
|
order to make driving more enjoyable. Similarly, I would be at lower
|
|
risk of acquiring HIV infection if I stopped giving and getting
|
|
rubber-free blow jobs, but I prefer to take that small risk in order
|
|
to continue having an enjoyable sex life. As in all areas of my life,
|
|
I, like many, if not most, people weigh the possible risks of my
|
|
actions, decide if the benefits outweigh the risks, and act
|
|
accordingly. Providing people with honest information about relative
|
|
risks associated with different sexual activities, instead of
|
|
unsubstantiated anti-sex warnings, would enable individuals to make
|
|
informed decisions about their behavior and what level of risk is
|
|
acceptable for them. A risk-free life would also be a pleasure-free
|
|
life, and the total elimination of risk from my life is not a goal of
|
|
mine. Encouraging people to eliminate risk from their sex lives, even
|
|
at the the cost of eliminating sexual pleasure, as the AIDS educators
|
|
recommend, is an attempt to narrow people's options and manipulate
|
|
their behavior under the pretext of concern for their health.
|
|
|
|
|
|
IV drug use and AIDS
|
|
|
|
Another area where the AIDS "crisis" is being used as a pretext
|
|
to restrict the scope of people's personal activities is that of
|
|
recreational IV drug use. IV drug users and their sex partners make
|
|
up a large and growing proportion of HIV-infected people and people
|
|
who have AIDS. These people, while being urged to use safer injection
|
|
techniques, are also being urged to give up IV drug use totally as
|
|
the most efficient way to stop transmission of HIV among drug users
|
|
and their partners. Although similar to the safe sex/no sex campaign
|
|
directed at homosexual men, the anti-drug campaign, disguised as an
|
|
anti-AIDS campaign, is based on even more faulty premises, most
|
|
importantly, the myth that IV drug use is inherently a high risk
|
|
activity which should be outlawed.
|
|
|
|
Drug use would be totally free of risk from infectious disease
|
|
transmission if the government simply decriminalized needle and drug
|
|
use. Needle exchange programs are not what is needed, in part because
|
|
they force drug users to submit to the surveillance of the public
|
|
health authorities, but most importantly because they do not address
|
|
the main cause of needle sharing and subsequent transmission of HIV:
|
|
an inadequate supply of sterile needles produced by government
|
|
restrictions on the sales of needles. In the 38 U.S. states that do
|
|
not criminalize possession of needles without a physician's
|
|
prescription, IV drug users are not at high risk of AIDS because
|
|
needle sharing is minimized. The states with the highest number of IV
|
|
drug users are also the states that restrict access to needles,
|
|
contributing directly to the extremely high rate of HIV infection in
|
|
drug users in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and other states. The
|
|
government and the media constantly regale us with stories about the
|
|
high rate of HIV infection among children born in New York, most of
|
|
them children of IV drug users, but fail to point out that most of
|
|
these infections would never have occurred were it not for laws
|
|
against needles in New York. And even the totally inadequate needle
|
|
exchange program being conducted in New York has been opposed by many
|
|
politicians. These politicians and their laws are contributing to the
|
|
death of IV drug users, their sex partners, and their children.
|
|
|
|
Decriminalizing and deregulating drug and needle use, would not
|
|
only dramatically cut the rate of HIV infection among drug users, it
|
|
would also reduce the other health risks of recreational drug use,
|
|
such as endocarditis, poisoning by additives, and unintentional
|
|
overdose, by bringing drug sales and manufacture aboveground and open
|
|
to examination by users. Decriminalization and deregulation would
|
|
also produce a precipitous fall in drug prices, improving the
|
|
economic situation of drug users (and, incidentally, eliminating
|
|
most street crime, most of which is a result of users seeking cash to
|
|
pay high drug prices or dealers fighting to monopolize a lucrative
|
|
market). These changes would likely result in an improvement in the
|
|
general health of drug users which would help those already infected
|
|
with HIV to better deal with the infection.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Goverment is part of the problem, not the solution to the
|
|
AIDS "crisis."
|
|
|
|
Most people in this country, including most leftists and many
|
|
anarchists, look to government as a source of help in dealing with
|
|
AIDS. As in the case of IV drug use, government intervention in any
|
|
area of our lives, including AIDS and its associated problems, causes
|
|
more problems than it "solves". Eliminating government intervention
|
|
in health care; "therapeutic" drug research, manufacture and sales;
|
|
recreational drug and needle use and sales; and sexual activity,
|
|
including sex-for-a-fee, would greatly increase people's options in
|
|
both AIDS prevention and AIDS treatment.
|
|
|
|
As stated above, decriminalizing and deregulating recreational
|
|
drugs and needles would decrease transmission of HIV and lead to
|
|
better general health among IV drug users. Abolishing the FDA and
|
|
deregulating the research, manufacture and sales of "therapeutic"
|
|
(or non-recreational) drugs would also be of benefit in dealing with
|
|
AIDS and HIV. The FDA holds up the release of drugs with proven
|
|
benefits for people who have AIDS, like ganciclovir [DHPG], a drug
|
|
used successfully for several years to treat retinitis caused by
|
|
cytomegalovirus [CMV], a common infection in people who have AIDS.
|
|
They recently tried to force people into sight-threatening studies
|
|
where the drug would be withheld from some people until their
|
|
disease worsened, potentially leading to blindness. In order to
|
|
impose this on people the government had forbidden the manufacturer
|
|
to provide the drug to people who needed it on a "compassionate use"
|
|
basis, as it had in the past. Political pressure by AIDS activists
|
|
resulted in a reversal of this policy, and the FDA is expected to
|
|
approve the drug soon. The FDA also held up approval of aerosolized
|
|
pentamidine, a treatment proven to prevent 'Pneumocystis carinii'
|
|
pneumonia, the most frequent cause of death in people who have AIDS,
|
|
discouraging physicians from providing this treatment, and insurance
|
|
companies from providing coverage for it. This policy resulted in many
|
|
deaths that were preventable, and approval was granted only after
|
|
widespread protests by AIDS activists. Eliminating regulation of drugs
|
|
would enable people to use these drugs, as well as other drugs that
|
|
may be effective in treating AIDS, but whose use is criminalized by
|
|
government regulations.
|
|
|
|
Deregulation of drug research and manufacture would also result
|
|
in the production of many new drugs to fight AIDS. Expensive
|
|
government-mandated drug trials prevent many drug manufacturers from
|
|
developing some drugs, and prevent new drug makers from entering the
|
|
market, by making the business too costly. Abolishing the system of
|
|
drug patents would bring down drug prices dramatically and allow new
|
|
manufacturers to more easily enter the market. These two developments
|
|
would result in more varied and cheaper drugs to use against AIDS
|
|
(and other diseases as well). Doing away with the prescription system,
|
|
which prohibits people from making their own choices about what drugs
|
|
they wish to take, and forces them to go along with the dictates of
|
|
government-certified physicians if they wish to get any drugs at all,
|
|
would enable people, at long last, to really make their own decisions
|
|
about their health care. A marketplace made up of totally unregulated
|
|
drug makers competing for the business of consumers unencumbered by
|
|
the dictates of government and its approved physicians would result in
|
|
cheaper, more varied, and, hopefully, safer and more effective drug
|
|
treatments for AIDS.
|
|
|
|
Deregulating the rest of health care would similarly increase
|
|
people's freedom to choose how they wish to maintain their health
|
|
and treat their illnesses. By imposing restrictions on who can provide
|
|
health care advice and treatments through licensing laws and boards of
|
|
registration, the government prevents people from choosing which
|
|
health care practitioners they wish to hire. The system of prescribing
|
|
(and proscribing) drugs and other treatments and procedures pushes
|
|
people into the hands of government-approved MDs, as there is no other
|
|
way, under the current system to obtain many drugs and other medical
|
|
treatments. Abolishing professional licensure and prescription laws
|
|
would enable people to choose the people, drugs and treatments they
|
|
wish to employ, without requiring them to seek the permission of
|
|
"experts" licensed by the state.
|
|
|
|
Laws regulating individuals' sexual activities have also hindered
|
|
the fight against AIDS, Criminalization of homosexual sex and laws
|
|
preventing homosexuals from working in certain jobs and from
|
|
participating in some activities, such as adopting or providing foster
|
|
care for children, contribute to a pervasive anti-homosexual
|
|
atmosphere in this country which discourages many men who engage in
|
|
homosexual sex from acknowledging and accepting their sexual tastes.
|
|
These men may, out of fear, not be willing to frequent places or read
|
|
literature where information about truly risky sexual activity is
|
|
available and remain ignorant of the hazards to which their sexual
|
|
activity may expose them. Additionally, many men who engage in s |