I fully endorse advances in safe sex (deliberately choosing the word 'safe' here), but I've been incredibly wary of what seems to be a blind, mass jump on the Truvada train from my fellow gay community. Have we seen in any studies that this drug doesn't compromise long-term health? It feels as if a reluctance to practice safe sex has finally found its hero and that it's all rooted, frankly, in laziness. Sure, we all have different definitions of 'sexual freedom' but I'll strongly defend that this freedom isn't about 'to-wear or not-to-wear [a condom]' but about TRULY liberating sexual values (i.e. partners, fetishes, etc.). We need to stop advocating a chemical cocktail that relieves people of responsibility and control. Besides your Truvada pill won't save you from anal warts, scabies, or other 'fun' (yes, relatively -- relatively -- curable) infections.
4
I am all for sex education, find that just talking about safe sex does a disservice to kids, particularly young women.
Can we not also lead with the fact that you should think before deciding to have sex? That sex is not the core of a relationship and no one should ever feel pressured to have sex? While unintended, these kits promote sex as just another activity and as long as you practice safety all is good. Talk with the women one on one and you will hear the same feelings. Pressure.
And with these kits do we assign accountability so that when a girl continues to have kids with multiple boys, they no longer get monthly pay checks for each kid and the boys are held responsible for support instead of the taxpayer? After all, the free kits, like the free birth control mandate that we all pay for was justified by the government as less costly than the monthly pay check. Right? Or is this like everything else that comes from government - we are all just victims and it's someone else's fault?
Can we not also lead with the fact that you should think before deciding to have sex? That sex is not the core of a relationship and no one should ever feel pressured to have sex? While unintended, these kits promote sex as just another activity and as long as you practice safety all is good. Talk with the women one on one and you will hear the same feelings. Pressure.
And with these kits do we assign accountability so that when a girl continues to have kids with multiple boys, they no longer get monthly pay checks for each kid and the boys are held responsible for support instead of the taxpayer? After all, the free kits, like the free birth control mandate that we all pay for was justified by the government as less costly than the monthly pay check. Right? Or is this like everything else that comes from government - we are all just victims and it's someone else's fault?
2
the person is HIV positive...why are they even thinking about having sex? Has the term "self-control" gone completely away??
3
A person who is HIV positive, in my view, has every right to live a full life. Free of stigma, and open to relationships casual or committed. Responsible people will inform sexual partners of their HIV-positive (or Herpes-positive) status and they can make a mutual, private decision about whether to have a sexual relationship. Self control doesn't have to mean self denial.
6
Deb S. - "Responsible people will inform sexual partners of their HIV-positive (or Herpes-positive) status"
Let's hope for "responsible people" who do not deny themselves a full life and hope those who practice self control and not self denial have a high regard for their fellow man.
Let's hope for "responsible people" who do not deny themselves a full life and hope those who practice self control and not self denial have a high regard for their fellow man.
5
HIV+ but undetectable people are not a major risk in spreading the virus as plenty of recent studies show. Demonising HIV+ people is as bad as sending lepers to a leper colony.
But of course, it is better to say something absurd as "why are they even thinking about having sex?". Everyone with a normal emotional self thinks about having sex.
But of course, it is better to say something absurd as "why are they even thinking about having sex?". Everyone with a normal emotional self thinks about having sex.
3
Makes all the sense in the world, but when will Congress try to defund this?
3
But why should Congress make taxpayers fund it. Maybe our leader in the WH can do an executive order?
6
What about a kit to help prevent unwanted pregnancies?
14
You apparently don't know this, Daphne, but condoms do have a major role in preventing unwanted pregnancies, and stopping the transmission of disease as well.
4
Yes. Thank you so much for your thoughtful response, but there other aspects to reproductive health and other options to prevent pregnancy.
A liberal approach for peoples' bad behavior and lifestyles.
4
"Criticism of the mayor has been rampant in varied corners of New York this year; much of it is warranted, ......." I thought that this particular comment regarding DeBlasio about issues other than health prevention was gratuitous and unnecessary.
17
...but truthful, none the less.
5
To advocate another anti-viral, Truvada, for daily use is grossly irresponsible, especially as the devastating effects of un-mediated anti-retroviral therapy, (ART, HAART) become more apparent. The signs and symptoms of "Pre-Mature Aging with AIDS", are the result of daily antiviral therapy which damage every tissue in the body, becoming clinically present after 15-20 years of daily ingestion. This new "syndrome" is not a new disease syndrome, but, the side-effect and direct result of ART, HAART... not a happy thought, Google this new diagnostic category to read about the damage done to muscles, bones, blood vessels, the heart, kidneys, liver , brain and the psyche of long term ART, HAART users.
I have worked with AIDS since 1982, first as an RN in NYC, 20 years, then as a licensed, board certified acupuncturist and chinese herbalist, in private practice for 30 years . The human body cannot sustain itself in the face of powerful medications taken daily...forever. "Premature Aging", due to ART, HAART is a bad enough problem. No one will stop taking them as they are effective in suppressing the viral load, that is undeniable. However, that is not the end of the problem. Mediation of the negative side effects of ART/HAART is needed. PLEASE do not add another antiviral for constant use, yet one more pharmaceutical goldmine, Truvada to the mix. ..education, a little self-discipline and some restraint can be just as effective.
I have worked with AIDS since 1982, first as an RN in NYC, 20 years, then as a licensed, board certified acupuncturist and chinese herbalist, in private practice for 30 years . The human body cannot sustain itself in the face of powerful medications taken daily...forever. "Premature Aging", due to ART, HAART is a bad enough problem. No one will stop taking them as they are effective in suppressing the viral load, that is undeniable. However, that is not the end of the problem. Mediation of the negative side effects of ART/HAART is needed. PLEASE do not add another antiviral for constant use, yet one more pharmaceutical goldmine, Truvada to the mix. ..education, a little self-discipline and some restraint can be just as effective.
11
If people exercised "education, a little self-discipline and some restraint" as you say, there would not be any HIV problem.
ART, HAART & Truvada are needed because people don't exercised "education, a little self-discipline and some restraint". You have to deal with the world they way it is, not as if it were the way we wished.
ART, HAART & Truvada are needed because people don't exercised "education, a little self-discipline and some restraint". You have to deal with the world they way it is, not as if it were the way we wished.
9
Please give us some reliable scientific data to back up your statements.
4
"as a licensed, board certified acupuncturist and chinese herbalist"--- oh yes. these are the credentials I want for my infectious disease specialist
(*sarcasm*)
(*sarcasm*)
6
New York doesn't seem to have revamped safe sex. It appears to have re-branded it. In doing so, young people--indeed all people--may be lulled into a false sense of security. And the availability of drugs like Truvada--not affordable to all--may make the problem far worse. "Back in the day", before the dreaded days of AIDS, at a time of a sexual revolution, many people had sex with multiple partners with reckless abandon. The principal concern was whether the female partner might get pregnant. But that all changed with the advent of AIDS in 1981. Although we have come very far since those early dark days, sexually-transmitted diseases are no joke. It is irresponsible for the City to promote the notion that in the area of sex--with all its impulsivity and more-than-occasional promiscuity--people should be anything less than careful and responsible for their own health and that of their partners. It would be tragic if we went backwards, only to find ourselves in a new public-health crisis.
10
This is great, but even greater would be easy and affordable access to PrEP. My insurance company (Aetna) requires pre-authorization every 3 months for this and at first rejected my claim, because my doctor was not detailed enough in his justification. In all, it took me 1.5 months to finally get my prescription approved.
WHY ON EARTH DOES THIS MEDICATION REQUIRE US TO JUMP THROUGH SO MANY HOOPS? To make matters worse, the co-pay was 50 bucks. Luckily, I found out that Gilead provided coupons to cover the co-pay, but I had to do some extensive research on my own to figure this out.
I even called and emailed Corey Johnson my city council rep to complain. His staff said they would call back but they never did.
It seems unless you're rich or poor, access to health care in this country is a joke.
WHY ON EARTH DOES THIS MEDICATION REQUIRE US TO JUMP THROUGH SO MANY HOOPS? To make matters worse, the co-pay was 50 bucks. Luckily, I found out that Gilead provided coupons to cover the co-pay, but I had to do some extensive research on my own to figure this out.
I even called and emailed Corey Johnson my city council rep to complain. His staff said they would call back but they never did.
It seems unless you're rich or poor, access to health care in this country is a joke.
26
It has been for a very long time. But look what congress gets and look who is paying for that, same as for everything else. The middle class, what's left of it.
7
You can't afford 50 bucks for your monthly prescription? Perhaps you should raise your fees.
3
"Perhaps you should raise your fees."
What is that supposed to mean?
What is that supposed to mean?
4