HIV and AIDS

http://uhavax.hartford.edu/bugl/hiv.htm

Great article.

 

1959, possilby 1930's- wow.

 

That article really could be used to pretty conclusively prove that the spread of AIDS was directly caused by peoples' behavior.

 

well duh.

There are unfortunates that received it via blood transfusions and such, but it is called a SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE for a reason.

 

Not much of a defense against those that think that gays brought this upon themselves though, is it?

 

It's not meant to be a defense. Gay men are most likely to transmit and infect themselves because anal intercourse is the MOST effective. But that's also true between heteros and bisexuals.

 

I understand that. All I am saying is that if this disease had been around for a while without really spreading a whole lot and then really started to take off when people started to be more "accepting" of the gay life style, well - people could draw a correlation there.

I'm not saying that I do, but for based on the opinions of some of these people that would be considered high logic.

 

I don't draw a correlation between acceptance and HIV. That sounds like something Thelt would do, honestly. I just think that once it transferred to the gay population, it exploded because of the sexual habits. The sex was there long before it was accepted, if you calll today's environment acceptance. So was the disease. It just took the right situations (anal sex) to make it explode onto the world. And then with the "hetero" guys that like to fuck men, well....it spread to the straight community too.

 

I pretty much agree with you - plus, my guess is it underwent a very subtle mutation that made it a killer.

Let me ask you this though - don't you think that it would have spread so quickly and so thoroughly if it had been much harder for people to have gay sex?

 

Here's my thought. The reason it spread so fast was because of bathhouses in larger cities. Gay men had to hide their sexuality. So to have sex, you had to visit one of these places, or pick someone up in a bar. Under those anonymous conditions, it didn't take too long for it to spread throughout the community. Not too far off from how it works today with Gay.com and the other websites. If it were common and accepted, gay men would not have to "trick" in those places. It would make education easier too.