Blog 34 [AIDS and Homosexuals]

One factor is the different risks involved with different forms of sexual intercourse. Penile-vaginal ("straight") sex has a medium risk of transmitting STDs, while anal (both gays and straights) sex has a high risk. Without the use of a condom, the penetrated partner could easily be infected. Since it is practiced more by gay men than by straight couples, the former is more likely to catch HIV. Add that to the lack of and/or information/misinformation readily available on anything other than missionary position-style sex and you have a big problem.

T.k.

"Why do AIDS occur more in homosexuals rather then heterosexuals?"
You should look up some statistics, because in the more recent years, more heterosexual people have contracted and spread HIV than homosexuals. It was once referred to as the "gay disease," and that's why HIV awareness is more prevelant in gay society. More homosexual men practice safe sex than hetersexual men because of the once rapid spread of HIV throughout gay communities.

No one knows the exact origin of HIV, just like no one could possibly pinpoint the first case of mileria or other diseases. It's something that has happened in nature, but you're partly right when you said :
"I always thought that AIDS came around when heroine and other hardcore drugs got famous. People would transfer AIDS from one another through reusing needles."

Needle sharing, at one point, used to be the fastest and most prevelant way to spread HIV in the heterosexual and homosexual circles alike. So more people passed on HIV by needlesharing than sex. That's one reason that bigger cities have created needle sharing programs where you can take your old needle into the bus or van and get a brand new one. Some people think this is encouraging drug usage, but it's preventing the spread of disease.

Well I hope I was helpful in some way.

I have never failed. I have successfully discovered 10,000 ideas that don't work.
-Thomas Edison

According to the CDC, sharing an infected needle is slightly more infectious than the most risky sex.
When it comes to sexual practices, receptive anal intercourse without a condom with an infected partner is the riskiest. It is 5 times riskier than receptive penile vaginal intercourse without a condom. But the insertive partner in both of those kinds of intercourse is somewhat less at danger (about the same risk for insertive anal or penile vaginal intercourse.}
A male or female performing oral sex on another man or woman is much less at risk, and the one having oral sex performed on him or her is less at risk still. There are other sexual activities such as mutual masturbation which are so much safer that no case has ever been recorded.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5402a1.htm#tab1
Some people stereotype gay sex as risky, when in reality it does not have to entail any risk. Gay women are much safer than heterosexual women since they can not, among themselves, have penile anal or penile vaginal sex.
Not all gay men have anal sex, and among those who do, not all have receptive anal sex, and among those who do, not all are infected and many use condoms. The vast majority of gay men don`t have HIV, but the fact that percentages are higher among gay males has some connection to the riskier sexual practices among mainly those who have had receptive anal sex without a condom with an infected person .

Before the epidemic, it was also easy for gay men to think that sex was much safer for them than for heterosexuals. They could not get pregnant and so many didn`t use condoms. Also, sex education was severely lacking. Even today, I`ve noticed that some of my gay friends, especially those who went to certain religious schools, for example, get very poor sex education in school. One told me he came out of Catholic school having been told that gay sex was dangerous, period. He had no idea that it could be completely safe and so he just resigned himself to die young and not protect himself in any way. He says, now that he knows better, that he is lucky that he didn`t become infected when he was so naive, and now he`s learned on his own how to stay safe.

Your mother could as easily ask herself why HIV is so high among black people as she could ask that about gay men. Or she could ask herself why gay women are so much safer than straight women. Some of these have easy answers (and it`s important to remember that gay men and anyone else who have safe sex with uninfected partners are at zero risk}. Some of it is still a mystery.

I hope that more accurate information will get out so that everyone understand how to stay safe.

``It's strange to hear to you think sex education among homosexuals is lacking and you've seen this firsthand. Most of the homosexuals, especially males, that I know are more informed about sex and the risks than heterosexuals.``

I agree with you. But maybe what I should have said was ``closeted gay people`` often seem to get poor information.
I know that when I was in public junior high school, all we heard was what ``the man`` does and what ``the woman`` does for nearly the whole unit on sexuality. Then there was about ten seconds that was spent saying something that amounted to, ``Oh, and by the way, some people like the same sex instead and they`re called homosexual or gay. The End. And now, back to what men do with women....`` But there was never a word about how two men can stay safe when they have sex.

That friend I used as an example was closeted and going to a conservative Catholic high school. Back then, he was totally naive and just accepted what he was told about sex being just plain dangerous (except as dictated by the Vatican and blah blah blah} . He was having unsafe sex, not knowing there was any other kind.
Once he came out of the closet in college, he learned more on his own and now does, I`m sure, know more than the average person about sexuality issues.

OPENLY gay and bisexual men I do find generally well informed. However, men on the ``Down Low `` are probably at worst risk because not only do they tend to come from backgrounds where they heard a lot of myths about sexuality, but they also stay out of venues where they would encounter accurate information and are not likely to ask questions that would lead to learning from people they know who are better informed.