LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Safe: Launches Internet Based Prevention Program |
by Salvatore Seeley |
"Let your fingers do the walking" may seem like a safe motto for cruising the Internet. But what happens when you let your fingers "walk" into a chat room to arrange an in-person, anonymous sexual encounter? That's precisely what the CAMPsafe program hopes to learn from our new Internet-based prevention program @CAMPsafe. Instead of going to bars or cruising spots, men who have sex with men in Delaware (MSMboth gay and non gay) are using the internet and chat rooms to look for sex partners. Recent studies have shown that men who find sex partners through the Internet may actually be less inclined to use condoms and may be more susceptible to Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs). Chat rooms allow Internet members to type messages to each other that can be viewed either privately (one on one) or by everyone in the room. AOL has as many as 16,000 chat rooms online, while Gay.com chat rooms play host to as many as 20,000 people at once. While some gay chat room visitors look to find friends and conversation, many are looking for anonymous sex. They trade pictures, ask about each other's sexual interests and make plans to meet offline. As a result of this new "virtual" meeting place, AIDS prevention workers must spend more time targeting their efforts outside of the traditional places where men meet to have sex. Starting in January 2002, CAMPsafe will implement a new Internet Prevention Program that targets men who live in Delaware and those who come to the resort community of Rehoboth looking for sex partners via the Internet. @CAMPsafe is new innovative program that is "the first of it's kind" here in the Mid-Atlantic. Successful programs have begun out west but there have been no agencies in this area that have followed that success. CAMPsafe is very proud to be a leader in this new type of intervention. Last year, CAMPsafe completed a study of Internet users in the Delaware chat rooms on AOL and Gay.com that target gays and men who have sex with men. When staff was in a chat room, they did not push information on people. Rather, men instant message (IM) staff with questions. All we do is simply give them facts and contact information for HIV testing sites or other referrals. During this trial period, CAMPsafe answered questions from over 100 men who had concerns about oral sex, HIV and STDS. Many of the men who contacted staff were from the Eastern Shore of Maryland who came to the lower Sussex County area for sex. Out of these men, 35% of them were in a long-term relationship with a woman and did not identify as gay or bisexual. Online prevention work is a good way of reaching married men and other MSMs who don't identify as being gay. Many closeted men are drawn to chat rooms since they offer an extra level of anonymity and fantasy. Because these men are not involved in the gay community, they have not heard prevention messages targeting gay men. CAMPsafe staff spends time in the Delaware specific chat roomswhere people are looking for sexand educates men on safer sex and HIV/AIDS. This kind of prevention is important in rural areas, since many of the outlets for MSMs (bars and community centers) are not available. Our study also revealed some encouraging news about STD and HIV prevention. We were able to document evidence of concern for safe sexual behavior through the mention of condoms or, as was frequently the case, persons indicated that they were disease and drug free and are seeking the same. Such safer-sex discussions in chat rooms indicate that the Internet may be an appropriate and useful tool for the promotion of healthy sexual behaviors, including condom use. @CAMPsafe staff is on-line at various parts of the day. We can be found in the DelawareM4M chat rooms on AOL and Gay.com. @CAMPsafe staff is available to answer any questions about safer sex and STDs by IMing staff or emailing us at: CAMPsafeM4M@aol.com. For more information on this new program or any of the other CAMPsafe programs, please contact Salvatore Seeley at 302-227-5620. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 12, No. 01, February 1, 2002. |