Today the blog became a bit obsessed with the idea of bug chasing. I made some exclamatory denunciation of the practice, and suddenly I was deluged with questions and comments about the topic. I addressed it a bit more directly later here.
But I wanted to really outline this critically dangerous practice.
Yes, there are literally males out there searching for HIV+ males to bareback them and breed them with HIV in the hopes that they will be seroconverted and become HIV+ themselves.
In fact, some of these deluded males go so far as to advertise their poz status, not as a warning, but rather as an enticement! They tattoo biohazard symbols on their bodies to let onlookers know that they are available for breeding. If you see that symbol on the body of a potential partner, you have every right to question them and use every precaution necessary to protect yourself.
How does this happen?? The bug chasing movement seems to have come out of the “AIDS denialist” movement of the mid-nineties. At that time there were several prominent virologists (such as Peter Duesberg, or the Perth Group) denying the link between HIV and AIDS. Their arguments on some aspects of the science are persuasive, but ultimately the movement died off as more and more AIDS denialists died … of AIDS.
But from that movement came males who flouted traditional views on safe sex and decided that they wanted to become “part of the club” by purposely infecting themselves with the virus. In their view, being HIV+ means they no longer need to worry about how they have sex once they have the ultimate bugaboo coursing through their veins.
Obviously, such a terrifying and nihilistic perspective is short-sighted and extremely stupid. There is no way to have indiscriminate sex and avoid physical repercussions. This is especially true if your immune system is decimated by an HIV infection.
In addition, a potentially devastating illness like HIV is something we should all work to eradicate from society. If we are HIV+, we should do the right thing and protect any partners from the possibility of getting infected by our actions.
And yet that post celebrating bug chasing published here on Tumblr (which is much more harmful than porn) that I was responding to (I refused to link to the post itself) received A LOT of positive responses. Celebratory responses.Posters were almost advertising themselves as HIV breeders in some cases. SHAMEFUL.
Someone here told me that these people have the right to make their own life decisions. Sure, okay. But those selfish decisions have ramifications that extend beyond themselves. If someone wants to hurl themselves into the void, they are free to do it. Just do it to yourself. Playing that game with an infectious disease is a societal issue. The lives and health of others can be affected.
As members of the human family, we have a higher responsibility to protect each other.
