CONDOMS VERSUS AIDS, ROUND 2
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You point out that the 5-micron “intrinsic pores” scare is based on the latex in rubber gloves, not condoms, and you point out the vast differences in manufacture of the two. Good. You cite studies about correct, consistent use of condoms, a distinction the anticondom, antisex troops never make while making the rounds of talk shows. Fine.
And then, for you, it’s back to the same old idea that “only bad people get AIDS”; and for the self-satisfied schmucks behind Cecil Adams, bad people are evidently those who have sex outside the confines of a heterosexual monogamous marriage contract. “If you’re a gay male and in a high-risk group to start with, at least stay away from IV drug users”?! It must be quite reassuring to think of all queer men as inherently diseased and of all drug users as inherently self-destructive. Too bad that’s a crock. The queer men who have made safe sex a consistent part of their sexual lives and the IV drug users who make a point of cleaning and not sharing their works are exercising a hell of a lot more self-restraint and self-protection than the idiots who think they’re immune because they’re not in a high-risk group. I guess it’s called the Straight Dope for a reason: it’s heterosexist . . . and stupid. –P.B., Chicago
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustrationSlug Signorino.
