This week I started reading the book "Hot Zone" by Richard Preston. I've only read a little past the first chapter but I can already tell I'm going to like the book. It's right down my alley. I love scary, gory stuff and this book is going to have a lot of it. I don't want to spoil the book since a lot of people are probably going to read it for extra credit but it starts out with a lot of blood and sickness. And on the back cover Stephen King says, "The first chapter of The Hot Zone is one of the most horrifying things I've ever read in my whole life... and then it gets worse. That's what I keep marveling over: it keeps getting worse." Normally I hate reading and I would just choose the other extra credit option which was a movie but this book looked so interesting that I chose the book and I'm really excited about reading it.
Did You Know:
Lesbians very rarely get HIV but it is possible. "In 2003 a 20-year-old African American lesbian from Philadelphia contracted HIV from her female partner. Most likely she was infected from the use of sex toys, "used vigorously enough to cause exchange of blood-tinged body fluids," according to the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. This young woman had no other risk factors: she did not use intravenous drugs, had never had sex with a man, never had a blood transfusion, had no tattoos or piercings and only had sex with her partner for the previous two years." (About.com) I had never really thought about it but it does seem very unlikely that lesbians could get HIV unless they inject drugs because they don't really exchange body fluids. But I think that everyone, no matter what their sexuality, should be very careful about their sexual decisions because something could happen even if you least expect it.
Works Cited:
Preston, R. (1994). Hot Zone. New York: Random House.
About.com. Can Lesbians get HIV or AIDS? Retrieved October 27, 2009, from http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/lesbianhealth/a/LesbianAIDS.htm
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Blog #7
I haven't done a whole lot in this class this week because I did some work ahead of time and was already caught up. But I did go back to get my HIV test results which came back negative. I have been thinking a lot about how it would feel to have HIV though. I have a friend who has genital herpes and he was saying how it sucks having to tell girls he gets involved with that he has it. And I have to admit that I used to be physically attracted to him but after finding out that he has herpes I'm not really sexually attracted to him. This is when I first started realizing how it would feel to have an STD.
Even with something like herpes, if I fell in love with the person, I wouldn't mind taking the chance of catching it. But for someone with HIV, no matter how much I felt like I loved them, I would never sleep with them. I feel horrible for people with any kind of STD, but I feel the worst for people with HIV. Pretty much their only hope of having sex is not telling people and using a condom, or sleeping with someone who also has HIV and using a condom. I don't think many people who don't have HIV would willingly have sex with someone who does. And as far as love, most healthy people wouldn't give love a chance with someone that they know is going to die.
Did you Know:
"In the North Carolina study of HIV infection in black women, the participants most commonly reported that that their reasons for risky behavior were financial dependence on male partners, feeling invincible, low self-esteem coupled with the need to feel loved by a male figure, and alcohol and drug use." All of these reasons are bad ones but understandable. Financial independence and alcohol and drug use are the ones that are a little harder to control I think because they don't have to do with your feelings. But feeling invincible and having low self-esteem can be worked on more easily. Just talking to someone or thinking about it can make someone realize that they are not invincible and they do not need a man to feel self-worth.
Works Cited:
CDC. HIV Transmission Among Black Women—North Carolina, 2004. MMWR 2005;54:89–94.
Even with something like herpes, if I fell in love with the person, I wouldn't mind taking the chance of catching it. But for someone with HIV, no matter how much I felt like I loved them, I would never sleep with them. I feel horrible for people with any kind of STD, but I feel the worst for people with HIV. Pretty much their only hope of having sex is not telling people and using a condom, or sleeping with someone who also has HIV and using a condom. I don't think many people who don't have HIV would willingly have sex with someone who does. And as far as love, most healthy people wouldn't give love a chance with someone that they know is going to die.
Did you Know:
"In the North Carolina study of HIV infection in black women, the participants most commonly reported that that their reasons for risky behavior were financial dependence on male partners, feeling invincible, low self-esteem coupled with the need to feel loved by a male figure, and alcohol and drug use." All of these reasons are bad ones but understandable. Financial independence and alcohol and drug use are the ones that are a little harder to control I think because they don't have to do with your feelings. But feeling invincible and having low self-esteem can be worked on more easily. Just talking to someone or thinking about it can make someone realize that they are not invincible and they do not need a man to feel self-worth.
Works Cited:
CDC. HIV Transmission Among Black Women—North Carolina, 2004. MMWR 2005;54:89–94.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Blog #6
This week I go back to get my HIV test results. I was going to wait until after I got the results to write my blog but it's almost Wednesday and the place didn't call me back yet. Even though I already know that I don't have HIV from my last test, somewhere in the back of my mind I still feel like I might have it somehow. It's not nearly as nerve wracking as the first time though.
For my country I picked Australia. Basically, there is no law saying that a person with HIV must disclose their status to a sexual partner, but they must take every precaution to prevent spreading HIV to that person. Someone can go to prison for 15-20 years for spreading HIV to another person. The laws are a little different in different sections of Australia but that is the basis of it.
Did you know:
From the beginning of the epidemic through 2005, women made up 16% of AIDS deaths. This percentage was actually lower than I expected. I guess it makes sense since in the beginning most of the people who died were gay men but still I expected the percentage to be a little higher.
Works Cited:
People Living with HIV/AIDS. HIV & The Law. Retrieved October 12, 2009, from http://www.plwhavictoria.org.au/HIV%20&%20The%20Law/hiv%20&%20the%20law.htm
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2008, August 3). HIV/AIDS Among Women. Retrieved October 12, 2009, from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/women/resources/factsheets/women.htm.
For my country I picked Australia. Basically, there is no law saying that a person with HIV must disclose their status to a sexual partner, but they must take every precaution to prevent spreading HIV to that person. Someone can go to prison for 15-20 years for spreading HIV to another person. The laws are a little different in different sections of Australia but that is the basis of it.
Did you know:
From the beginning of the epidemic through 2005, women made up 16% of AIDS deaths. This percentage was actually lower than I expected. I guess it makes sense since in the beginning most of the people who died were gay men but still I expected the percentage to be a little higher.
Works Cited:
People Living with HIV/AIDS. HIV & The Law. Retrieved October 12, 2009, from http://www.plwhavictoria.org.au/HIV%20&%20The%20Law/hiv%20&%20the%20law.htm
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2008, August 3). HIV/AIDS Among Women. Retrieved October 12, 2009, from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/women/resources/factsheets/women.htm.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Blog #5
This week's assignment was to watch the videos about HIV and AIDS. I watched 4 of them, but the one that stuck with me the most was "Silverlake Life." I think what made it so memorable was the fact that it was documented as it was actually happening. Instead of someone telling a story or acting it out, it was real. Plus, it was so graphic it really stuck with me. It actually gave me nightmares. I dreamed that I was dying and I was just going to as somebody said in 1 of the movies "cease to exist." It kind of messed me up for a few days, I had this feeling of like a fear of dying and kind of a feeling of doom. Luckily, I believe in Heaven and I calmed myself down but that movie really got to me. But I'm still glad that I watched it. It wasn't pleasant watching someone die but it really made the issue of HIV and AIDS a more real one.
Did you Know - Well my topic is HIV and women so this isn't specific to my topic but it can relate so I found out about a website called positivepersonals.com which is a dating website for people who have HIV and AIDS. I made an account so I could see what it was like. It's pretty much the same as any other website except people fill out how long they have been positive and information about any other STD's. What is crazy is that I did a search for HIV positive straight people in my area and I found someone who I had been talking to from another dating website. This was someone who I would have never expected to have HIV and he has been positive since 2000. I never met him but I was planning to at one point. I just think it's so crazy how you can judge people and think "oh they could never have HIV" but they can.
Tom Joslin and Peter Friedman. (Producers & Directors.) (1993.) Silverlake Life: The View From Here. [Film.] New Video.
Did you Know - Well my topic is HIV and women so this isn't specific to my topic but it can relate so I found out about a website called positivepersonals.com which is a dating website for people who have HIV and AIDS. I made an account so I could see what it was like. It's pretty much the same as any other website except people fill out how long they have been positive and information about any other STD's. What is crazy is that I did a search for HIV positive straight people in my area and I found someone who I had been talking to from another dating website. This was someone who I would have never expected to have HIV and he has been positive since 2000. I never met him but I was planning to at one point. I just think it's so crazy how you can judge people and think "oh they could never have HIV" but they can.
Tom Joslin and Peter Friedman. (Producers & Directors.) (1993.) Silverlake Life: The View From Here. [Film.] New Video.
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