Less safe sex in serious gay relationships

Isn't there less safe sex in "serious" relationships in general, regardless of the genders of the partners?

 

I'd say so, based on my experience with both men and women and from hearing about friends' relationships.

 

I'd say there's more unprotected sex in heterosexual relationships frankly than homosexual. They're basically just trying to make it sound like homosexuals are sluttier and thus more chance of infecting a partner compared to straights. Least that's what I get from this.

 

Regardless of whether or not there's less safe sex in serious relationships, this isn't restricted to the gay community. Heterosexual relationships are just as guilty and their outcome is quite often a kid were only 1/5 couples actually probably wanted and had the maturity to look after a child.

 

*cough*16 & Pregnant *cough* Teen Mom *cough* Teen Mom 2 *end coughing*

 

"80 percent of gay young men who are HIV positive don't know it"

Erm, how the hell would they know!? I'm very sceptical about figures of how many people don't know they have something, because they are pretty much by definition plucked out of the air...

 

...Sex existed before condoms. I mean we only have STDs because people sleep around. So what's the problem with not having "safe sex" in a committed relationship? If there's no chance of contracting an STD elsewhere and no chance of unwanted pregnancy, there's no point in taking "precautions."

And I am 100% positive I don't have HIV. I can say that definitively. *eyeroll*

 

I'd be very surprised if my parents take any protective measures. They're both over forty. I don't count that as unsafe sex, they've been together for longer than I've been alive and I don't know of any time either of them have cheated. (I could be wrong of course, but I'm guessing I'd have picked up on it, at least if it was since my teens)

I fully understand the case that people make for ALWAYS using protection, even if you've been with someone for years and years, because we can all trip up and fall into infidelity. I just think we need to at the same time understand it when those who are properly serious don't take precautions.

 

So I am on vacation at the moment and just waiting for pictures to upload before I head back out. So I am not going to go into detail, but you using data you have about those that have HIV and when they found out you can estimate the percentage that don't know.

Estimation theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Doesn't matter, it's still WAAAAAY too high. Least in my opinion.

 

I lol'd.

Also, "causal" partners made me laugh too. lol

 

Take a sample of people. Ask them if they believe that they are HIV positive. Test everyone in the same sample. Some nonzero percentage of them might be HIV positive who were also in the group that reported they did not believe they were HIV positive.

I heart science.

 

Dismal statistics. Whether you're gay or straight, you never know when you're going to end up backstabbed by your partner. Frankly, I'm not sure how anyone could ever trust someone enough on such a level. If you expect me to "trust" that you're not bring home HIV, then hit the road.

 

Also, at least as far as anal safer sex practices go, even if you and your partner are both free of STIs, it is still possible to contract urinary tract infections. At least, so says my sex tome.

 

I think gay guys actually do have a higher chance of getting infected, with HIV at least, because the percentage of gay men with HIV is, if I'm correct, a lot higher in the gay community than it is in the straight community. I think that was caused many many years ago when there wasn't as much information available as there is now, but again, I'm not completely sure. That's why it's so important that we practice safe sex, probably even more so than people engaging in "straight sex" (which is also important, don't get me wrong); to lower that percentage back to "normal".
Personally I'm not offended at all about the article.

 

According to epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani, gay men (particularly those in the urban party scene) do have higher rates of HIV. One of the reasons is of course that there is a lack of accurate knowledge about contracting HIV and the risks involved with unprotected sex, but another reason is simply the amount of partners. Young gay men in urban areas have more partners in a short period of time than most other people, and so the risk of contracting any STI is much higher.

I highly recommend her TED Talk where she goes into this and other HIV-related issues: Elizabeth Pisani: Sex, drugs and HIV -- let's get rational | Video on TED.com

 

Correlation =/= causation.

That's one of the reasons yes. The others are the anti-gay stigma and still a large lack of same-sex sex eduxation.

This is what it all boils down to and that's something of rationality not sexuality i.m.o.

 

There will never be a point when HIV rates of gay men are lower than straight men. Why? Just how anal sex is. If there were a disease most easily transmitted vaginally, then it would be the "straight plague."

Getting to a point where gays are the ones with the highest rates of HIV is the best you can hope for public health wise, because it means the rate of HIV is uncommon overall. There's no social reasoning behind it. All the education and safe sex in the world isn't going to eliminate HIV in gay men, but it can definitely knock a dent in it.

 

That's not quite true. Illnesses, even some of the most ghastly and persistent ones, can be eradicated. We've done it before. It just takes international co-operation from governments, the UN and NGOs in funding, researching, organising and realising a plan.