LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Safe |
by Sal Seeley |
Clicking Down the Sexy Super-Highway
Like many people, I spend time cruising on the weblooking at pictures, chatting with guys, buying books, watching videos. It's amazing what you can find on the internet and how much people actually disclose. Everything from shoe size to...well, you get the picture. Gay men have embraced this technology rather quickly and are using the internet to their advantage! In what other period in history have gay men been able to know so much about a potential partner in such as short amount of time? Simply by browsing a profile you can find out a great deal about a person: their HIV status, their lifestyle, their sexual preferences and desires, their physical attributes, etc. Can the internet be used as an effective HIV intervention tool to help gay men make better informed choices about sex? I think the answer is yes. No one but ourselves is ultimately responsible for the choices we make and their consequencesespecially with regard to our physical and sexual healthand the internet provides a powerful educational tool for us to use. Anyone who hooks-up online should use rational judgment when considering going to a partners home or inviting strangers into their own home. My suggestion is to carefully read the safety tips located on most websites. They provide some good basic guidelines about meeting strangers online. I consider honesty to be the most basic and the most important personal responsibility that we have to each other. Accurate personal information is critical when talking to a potential partner about sexual acts. For many gay men the conversation regarding safer sex does not always include a discussion of condoms. Honesty online goes beyond having an up-to-date picture in your profile or advertising your penis size in 'real' inches. Honesty is about being willing to divulge your HIV status if you know it or being willing to state that you do not know your status. Honesty is also about being honest with your level of sexual health education and sexual experience. Honestly is also about being honest with yourself and being strong enough to create boundaries (physical and emotional) that allow you to respect yourself and stick to them. We can best take on the responsibility of caring for ourselves and potential partners by: being aware of the symptoms and signs of STDs, knowing your HIV status and your partner's status, getting testing for STDs on a regular basis (every 6 months), and having well informed honest discussions with potential partners about HIV and STDs and our emotional/physical limitations. This month, we are proud to launch campsafereho.com. The web site is designed to provide you with basic information about HIV and STDs. You can also find out when testing is available for HIV. There is also a safer sex blog on the site. Next time you are online, take a look at our website. Starting this summer, we will be having some contests that will be posted on the site. More information to comeand more reasons for you to be connected online! Sal Seeley is Program Director of CAMPsafe, an HIV/AIDS program funded through a contract with the Delaware Division of Public Health. E-mail salvatoreseeley@aol.com. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 18, No. 04 May 02, 2008 |