Posted on 10/22/2010 7:03:24 AM PDT by flowerplough
How a new report on HIV infection in the Big Apple scared a health reporter into getting tested and having a frank discussion with her "boo."
By Tomika Anderson
My longtime lover and I were driving through Harlem when we passed a billboard that made me want to slam on the brakes and pull the car over. On it were two women -- one black and one Latina -- their pretty, youthful faces in lights. But under their pictures was a statistic that sucker-punched me: 93.4 percent.
As in, 93.4 of all new HIV cases among women in NYC occur among black and Latina women.
...
According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, a majority of the newest reported infections among women in that city were obtained during heterosexual sex. And the number of newly infected black women is on the rise: The latest count (which covers the first half of 2009) is up nearly 2 percent from 2008.
The astronomical figure hits even closer to home for me: Not only do Black women account for more than 66 percent of all new cases (beating Latinas two to one), but the group of sistas getting infected fastest are 30 to 39 years old -- an age when many of us are getting married or are trying to be married. When many of us are having children. When many of us -- myself included -- figure, hell, I've been in this long-term relationship for a while ... I can let down my guard and trust my partner. Right?
Clearly, wrong.
Three days later, I got my second HIV test of the year.
(Excerpt) Read more at theroot.com ...
Not sure I blindly trust the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene quite as much as they seem to trust the black and Latina women they are case-studying.
HIV is racist!
I wish there was something they could use to prevent the spread of disease and prevent pregnancy. You know, like some kind of ultra thin latex cover. Too bad there isn’t anything like that available.
Nah, too easy.
Long term relationship? How about that tried and true relationship, monogamous marriage? Sorry, but the spread of age is greater in communities that have bought into the idea that sex with multiple partners is ok, IV drug use is more common, homosexual sex is high, etc etc. We know how HIV is transmitted, and it’s fairly easy to avoid it.
The real question: Why is she in a relationship with someone she doesn't trust?
Heck, there's a far easier solution out there for this problem ...
One aspirin ---
--- firmly held between the knees.
I think the only other competing cause for women in NYC would be infected needles.
Oops, typo. Should have been spread of aids, not spread of age. Wish avoiding the spread of age were quite that simple!
“...in that city were obtained during heterosexual sex.”
That may be a huge lie. Many Black and Hispanic women get HIV from men who are “on the down low” and leading a secret gay life.
You guys still buying into this absolute lie? HIV is a harmless retrovirus. It’s ubiquitous. I’ve refuted this thousands of times here but it still keeps popping up. Absolute nonsense.
Sadly these types of problems quickly solve themselves.
Obviously Bush’s fault . . . probably accelerated by those racists bastards in the Tea Party movement . . . Kinda’ missed the part about “during SPOUSAL sex,” or did I miss that?
I think the deal here is that 1) more gay men in these communities are on the down low and living a secretly bisexual lifestyle because homosexuality is less culturally accepted, 2) more men have been in prison, where they are more likely to have contracted and 3) there is higher drug use, so more chance that one’s partner contracted it via a contaminated needle.
If you leave the gates wide open for anyone to enter, you’re going to get some “riff-raff”...just sayin’
What would be even more effective would be to take that item while it is still in its package, and put it on the inside of her left knee, then hold it against the inside of her left knee with her right knee.
So, yes, all things that have to do with behaviors within the community.
Interesting - where can I read your refutation?
I guess my question for Tomika is this: Are you stepping out on your “long-time lover” and giving it away on the side? Or do you suspect your “long-time lover” is stepping out on you and getting some strange on the side? Or do you and/or your “long-time lover” use IV drugs with potentially contaminated needles? Unless one of these conditions is positive, you will most likely remain HIV negative.
LOL! My hips agree ;-).
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