GLR Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Read "Sixteen Propositions" by Michael Denneny in our online-Library!
 http://library.gayhomeland.org/0003/EN/index.htm

Pages: [1] 2   Go Down

Author Topic: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.  (Read 14001 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Athrael

  • Forum member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 50
    • Oceanic Project
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #17 on: Sun, May 06, 2007, 10:44 »

A yearly physical for all things is good. Being gay doesn't mean you have HIV, but if you are promiscuous... Aye, there is the rub. The truth is that there are many other STD's that nobody talks about much but are as important to learn if you have for early and proper treatment to prevent the spread.

I think that the gay community in general is a bit more "clean" with the matter, even those reports of more teenage gays coming down with HIV is out there, I would assume that us "grannies" are still pumping the message to the new kids on the block. If not, then us "grannies" need to sit down and think about life in the 80's one more time and list our dead and departed through the HIV/AIDs death days.

I still pass out condoms and sex advice to "the kids" I even carry that over to straight kids. Especially my promiscuous Niece who I fear we have held hands too many times after unprotected sex in fear that perhaps this time....

I'm now too old and in a position where one night stands are deadly (my partner would kill me ;)) however as I recall the nature of male coupling was more along the lines of "hi how are you?" and straight to bed. Sure sooner or later we find the right man and settle down, but along the road many of us do have quick couplings and on we go.

So as an ideal it is impractical to actually get tested before sex with each partner, unless we really expect sex at first meeting to stop in the community. I dare say human nature being what it is that that will never happen. So as a matter of personal hygiene get tested at least once a year, more if you are dating more than 5 men a year (sleeping with as opposed to dining and a movie dating), wear a condom with everyone until you have had the change to be with that person long enough to know that A. you and he are the only two people having sex. B. that at least 6 months and two test come back negative (although a full year and 3 tests is better) and C. that you are truly in a monogamous relationship.

Let face it bear backing is better, but it should be reserved for the one and only who you know is safe to play with.
According to obituary notices, a mean and useless citizen never dies.

elfrid

  • Group member
  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #16 on: Mon, Oct 23, 2006, 20:36 »

My name is Elfrid Walkingtree althought i wolud like rto be known here as Baroness Elfrid Walkingtree of Quetzalcoatl(but i do very strongly support a republic although i might have a very monarchic title).I found out that i tested positive for the anti bodies of HIV 17 years ago and as a double result of a hangover which m,ake me think that i was invisible and there for i could cope with the positive diagnosis and cos an old friend of mine whom i wsas having occasional sex with him sauggested me so.
I would not recommand anybody to be tested cos they want to have sex.Going to have the test is a life changing experiment whether u are negative or positive.So lets not trivilise it,please!

Mogul

  • Viktor Zimmermann
  • Administrator
  • Guru
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 691
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #15 on: Thu, May 18, 2006, 17:56 »

An introduction into HIV and its transmission ways is awailable at Wikipedia.org. Though one should never consult Wikipedia as the only source of information on medical issues, the article contains 37 references and 30 external links on the issue.

A "Thought Experiment" (Gedankenexperiment) is a valuable tool in science, however, it yields no results if it is not clear what is the purpose of such an experiment? You shall take a bit more time to explain your agenda.
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right!" Salvor Hardin

dsaklad@gnu.org

  • Forum member
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
    • A thought experiment.
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #14 on: Tue, May 16, 2006, 19:25 »

And another related thought experiment...
Two uninfected men are having anal sex.
Is it true?... or false?... that one or both can get human immunodeficiency virus.

dsaklad@gnu.org

  • Forum member
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
    • A thought experiment.
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #13 on: Tue, May 16, 2006, 19:20 »

I would say one can become infected by the HI-virus if some nurse stabs a freshly used syringe into your venes.

Now you are coming up with a thought experiment !

dsaklad@gnu.org

  • Forum member
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
    • A thought experiment.
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #12 on: Tue, May 16, 2006, 19:19 »

A thought experiment...
You need a blood transfusion,
would you want the blood tested after or before the transfusion?

With the type of accident which could happen to me in my trade - and which nearly happened to me twice in recent years - I wouldn`t be conscious and thus in any position to make a choice.I have to trust the health services of the country in which I live,all the more that they are
free of charge.

K6
I'm sorry you don't understand the nature of thought experiments,
here's a link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_experiment

Mogul

  • Viktor Zimmermann
  • Administrator
  • Guru
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 691
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #11 on: Fri, May 05, 2006, 20:56 »

[..] Is this true?... or false?...
You can get human immunodeficiency virus by donating blood.

I would say one can become infected by the HI-virus if some nurse stabs a freshly used syringe into your venes. A scenario certainly possible in a third-world country, but probably not in the US, Canada or central Europe. Though, one never knows. Some newspapers reported about a poorly sterilized piece of surgery equipment in an US-clinicum recently, and in Germany (in Aachen) some famous professor of heart surgery was fired because he operated for decades (!) knowingly having hepatitis.
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right!" Salvor Hardin

dsaklad@gnu.org

  • Forum member
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
    • A thought experiment.
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #10 on: Fri, May 05, 2006, 18:40 »

Another thought experiment...

Is this true?... or false?...
You can get human immunodeficiency virus by donating blood.

K6

  • Forum member
  • Hero member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 403
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #9 on: Wed, May 03, 2006, 23:46 »

A thought experiment...

You need a blood transfusion,
would you want the blood tested after or before the transfusion?

With the type of accident which could happen to me in my trade - and which nearly happened to me twice in recent years - I wouldn`t be conscious and thus in any position to make a choice.I have to trust the health services of the country in which I live,all the more that they are
free of charge.

K6

dsaklad@gnu.org

  • Forum member
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
    • A thought experiment.
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #8 on: Wed, May 03, 2006, 22:29 »

A thought experiment...

You need a blood transfusion,
would you want the blood tested after or before the transfusion?

Mogul

  • Viktor Zimmermann
  • Administrator
  • Guru
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 691
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #7 on: Wed, May 03, 2006, 11:09 »

[..] Much has been said and done over the last decades to blame the gay people for AIDS. Many people (including many gay people) cling to the medieval idea that AIDS is like some angel of death who visits some houses but not others. It is just a virus. There are steps that can be taken to at least rationalize one's response to it. Knowing whether or not you carry the virus is an excellent first step. [..]

I belong to the generation where AIDS is still very present in people's minds, but does not appear as diabolic as 15 years ago. New medicines have braught a significant improvement in health situation of patients. This is good, but has caused an unwanted (social) side-effect, that many people do not care as much as before about the still very deadly disease, and numbers of newly infected men and women are rising again (in Germany). 

While discussing HIV and AIDS, we often do not separate between the epidemological aspects (spread of the virus) and the effects the infection has on the particular individual. Mostly the discussion concentrates on the issue of proliferation - in this context the best strategy to protect oneselve and the partner is using appropriate preservatives and know what kind of lubricant shall be used etc. Knowing one's own HIV status and the status of the partner is irrelevant in case of casual contacts, because of the long latence period of the virus before it can be detected - a freshly-tested partner with "negative" status might be very well carrier of HI-Virus. Therefore having unprotected sex with a casual partner is a very bad idea, him being tested or not. Long-term partners with no sexual activities outside of their bond might consider unprotected sex if they are sure about each other, but the experience teaches us that most men can't be really trusted - that's why so many "innocent" married women get infected.

After all, it's just a virus - one can decrease the risk of being infected, but not eliminate it.

And here we come to the individual and his health. In first line, an individual is responsible for one's own health - timely knowing about various diseases is essential for their effective treatment. The sense of knowing one's HIV status is in first line the timely treatment of AIDS.

[..] Physicians routinely omit HIV testing from their examinations unless they have reason to believe the disease is already present. HIV test results that are the product of visits to hospitals or doctors become part of the medical records and these records can and have been used by businesses to deny people health insurance or even employment. This may be a reason to avoid discussing HIV with one's regular doctor, but it is not a license for continued ignorance. [..]

Certainly, the first step can be getting tested anonymously in some of the health centers. But still the question remains, what to do next? If one is infected, sooner or later one must go to the physician and begin the appropriate treatment.

Now, the situation in the US and Germany is somewhat different. In my country, no employer is allowed even to ask you about your health status, unless you intend to perform some hard physical labour. Similarly, the problem of missing medical insurance is close to being completely eliminated - most employees and unemployed persons have compulsory insurances, and cannot be rejected by any reason. I know that this is very different in the US, and it's a shame that the richest country in the world can't provide many of its citizens with basic health care. We have currently another problem here - life insurance are routinely denied to all assumingly homosexual males. Of course, everybody shall consider his individual circumstances - as we know, in some countries it is highly dangerous to be known as HIV-carrier.

          > Aehem... ufgh... isn't it better simply to
          > go regularly to your doctor
          > and test your health for any disease?

     Oh, that's right, we only need go to our national health care system for regular care.

     Pshaw!  Let those people without insurance in capitalist countries try to swallow that!!!


Here I completely agree with K6 - it is a pity that social support in the US is on a medieval level, but it is not my fault. Even though, generally citizens of the US enjoy much better medical supply than citizens of many other countries - India, Indonesia and the entire Africa are few to be mentioned. There people die not only from AIDS, but even from Cholera - a disease caused by drinking water or eating some food. As you see, it is meaningless whether you are gay or straight, impersonated goodness or a flit - there are enough germs to make you ill. Most progress in medicines is made by tecnical achievements and general wealth - not by individual precautions (though there are few which are good to know).
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right!" Salvor Hardin

K6

  • Forum member
  • Hero member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 403
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #6 on: Wed, May 03, 2006, 07:40 »


     Oh, that's right, we only need go to our national
     health care system for regular care.

     Pshaw!  Let those people without insurance in capitalist
     countries try to swallow that!!!


It is not my fault if the citizens of a certain north American country still prefer to live in the 18th century rather than in the 21st,both in terms of services offered by the State and spiritually (or to be more precise,religiously).

K6

dsaklad@gnu.org

  • Forum member
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
    • A thought experiment.
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #5 on: Wed, May 03, 2006, 01:59 »

Here's a thought experiment !...

The strategy.

Get tested together for a variety of sexually transmitted infections,
including human immunodeficiency virus and share the results with
your potential sex partner BEFORE having sex.

Here's a collaborative blog and a collaborative wiki about
the strategy of let's get tested together before we have sex...
for STDs
http://NotB4WeKnow.blogspot.com
http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/not_b4_we_know

Earlier edits at
http://zork.net/dsaklad/notb4weknow

          > Aehem... ufgh... isn't it better simply to
          > go regularly to your doctor
          > and test your health for any disease?

     Oh, that's right, we only need go to our national
     health care system for regular care.

     Pshaw!  Let those people without insurance in capitalist
     countries try to swallow that!!!


          > I mean, diabetes is certainly not related to sex,
          > but isn't it better to know
          > before you buy that tasty chocolate bar?

     And I'm sure most small children know the very same facts
     you elusively elude to--and because of their superior
     moral temperments, will refuse to eat it.

K6

  • Forum member
  • Hero member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 403
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #4 on: Wed, May 03, 2006, 00:26 »


Probably half of the friends I had in the early 80s caught AIDS and are now six feet under.I got tested twice in the early 90s,and it was found that I was not a carrier of the virus.By the explanations I was given and the information I gathered,my sexual practices made it quite impropable that I could catch the disease.

K6

Feral

  • Official Flying Monkey Smiter
  • Administrator
  • Hero member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 262
Re: A thought experiment. Get tested together before having sex.
« Reply #3 on: Tue, May 02, 2006, 22:13 »

Well, if you did have diabetes it would be convenient to know about it before you bought that chocolate bar. Indeed, it might influence your decision to do so.

Much has been said and done over the last decades to blame the gay people for AIDS. Many people (including many gay people) cling to the medieval idea that AIDS is like some angel of death who visits some houses but not others. It is just a virus. There are steps that can be taken to at least rationalize one's response to it. Knowing whether or not you carry the virus is an excellent first step.

Of course, I could just advocate painting sheep blood on our door, but I think it would not work so well. Simply trusting in fate when choosing your partners or deciding what activities you will and will not engage in is equally unlikely to be of use.

Now, in my particular case, I find that I cannot even transport my partner to his appointments with his physicians without enduring continual inquiries into my own state of health. At times I could wish to be less cared for. Still, in much of my country AIDS is looked upon very much as some mythical angel of death about which nothing can or ought to be done. Physicians routinely omit HIV testing from their examinations unless they have reason to believe the disease is already present. HIV test results that are the product of visits to hospitals or doctors become part of the medical records and these records can and have been used by businesses to deny people health insurance or even employment. This may be a reason to avoid discussing HIV with one's regular doctor, but it is not a license for continued ignorance.

Most large cities have free testing clinics that are quite separate from the medical establishment. People should know their HIV status.
Stonewall was a riot.
Pages: [1] 2   Go Up