The Way To Each Other - PSA
Hi, everyone.
My name's Sio and I'm one of the co-writers for the piece of fanfiction you've just read. Thank you for reading our piece, The Way To Each Other. I certainly hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it. If you'll bear with me for a few moments longer now, I would like to take a little of your time to address two of the very real issues we utilized as themes in our story. Namely the issues of sex trafficking and HIV/AIDS.
Now wait a moment. Before you say that you live in the United States or whatever first world country you happen to live in and those sorts of things don't happen where you are, please stop and take a moment to read these words. Because they're facts.
It's estimated that between one and three hundred thousand kids under the age of eighteen living in the United States or either currently being sexually exploited or are at risk of being sexually exploited. Yes. Even here. And it's possible that the numbers are even higher because traffickers are smart. They keep the kids hidden so the authorities can't find them.
Now wait - I can almost hear you thinking it - why don't they run away? Because they're kept so scared and/or doped up on drugs by their pimps that they're too afraid to do anything. What would you do if you were being kept in degrading conditions and being forced to have sex with strangers over and over while being told if you said anything or ran away your pimp would find you? But he wouldn't just threaten to kill you. He'd tell you he'll kill your mom. Torture your dad. Maybe find your baby brother or sister and force them to sell themselves for him instead of you. Think about that for a moment. Still think running away is so easy? And that's not even accounting for the fact that many of these kids are stolen from their homes and moved around so much they don't even know where they are, let alone how to get to a safe place.
So they're scared - terrified, really. Their pimps are pushing drugs on them to keep them in line so they don't fight back while they're being raped. For the ones forced to work the streets, the police are targeting them as a perpetrator of a crimes as if they're not the victim. And do you really think any of their pimps insist on their "clients" being clean or wearing protection? What do they care if a boy or girl gets sick or even dies? They can just get a new one from some suburban neighborhood in middle America by dangling promises of stardom before bright young eyes.
Which brings us to our second topic. HIV/AIDS. Yes, there are a host of other STDs that should also be talked about, but HIV/AIDS has one of the most undeserved titles. For years people have shied away from talking about HIV/AIDS because of the connotation. In the United States, it was first branded as a “gay” disease. This is not true. Yes, when HIV first appeared it disproportionately affected the gay community, but this was very quickly anything but the truth.
Here's a couple of quick facts.
First, HIV is not transmissible outside of blood, breast milk or seminal/vaginal fluids to an open wound or mucous membranes. No, you can't get it from kissing as apparently saliva contains very small amounts of the virus. And despite what elementary school rumors might tell you, you can't contract the disease from touching someone who has it or just being around them.
Are you aware about the fact that marriage is one of the biggest risk factors? Yes, really. See, outside of marriage, people tend to think just a little more about protection - Yes. Condoms. Surprise! You can actually catch an STD from your husband/wife. No, sadly, the bonds of matrimony cannot actually magically make the consequences all previous or extramarital sexual encounters go away.
Now, do you know what the general incubation period is for HIV from the time you contract it to when you first start showing symptoms? Well, it may surprise you to know that the virus can be asymptomatic - meaning it's not giving you any symptoms and may not make you feel any different after becoming infected - for years following exposure. This is why most people don’t get tested - because they don’t feel sick.
Do you know when you can find out if you're positive for HIV/AIDS following exposure to the virus? Typically, if you're positive, a test can find that out about three months after exposure, but you shouldn't take that one negative as a free pass. Get tested again at six months and continue getting tested periodically after that. In fact, everyone should get tested a few times a year as part of a routine medical exam. It is better to know your status and be able to take steps to protect yourself and your partner than to assume you are negative and potentially pass it on to someone else.
When you think of HIV/AIDS, I know you think of Africa. Globally, 32 million people are living with HIV internationally. But, how many people, in the USA, do you think are living with HIV/AIDS? Because it's estimated that over one million people are living with the virus in this country. Yes, right here in the USA.
It has been 30 years since AIDS became something that was a near household name. We’ve had stories about it in movies, television, books and the news... but still, people are getting infected and dying because they are not getting tested.
HIV/AIDS is treatable, but still incurable. Advances in medication allows millions of people around the world stay relatively healthy with a combination of medications and medical interventions to maintain a high quality of life. Despite this, millions of people still die every year. Thousands die every minute from HIV/AIDS related causes. There is no cure. And until we make some radical advancements in genetic engineering and medical sciences, there likely never will be.
Now ask yourself this. When was the last time your school, business or community rallied around the AIDS walk like they do for causes like breast cancer? When was the last time your community, your business, or your school had a fundraiser or just a general awareness of World AIDS day? Because I'm betting most of you can't think of one.
We can change this.
Yes, you might be just one person. But all it takes is one step to start a march. One voice to lead others in a choir. One is a very powerful number if that one decides to be heard. So, even if you can't offer anything financially or time-wise in support of organizations to help fight these two very important issues, will you please just read about them? Education destroys ignorance. And the less ignorance we have is the first step towards a better world in my opinion.
For more information, please check out these sites:
The Polaris Project - Based out of Washington, D.C., this organization is working to help victims of human trafficking and with Congress to advocate for stronger laws that will hopefully lead to a future without this horrible issue.
AVERT - An international HIV/AIDS charity with lots of basic information about the subject on their site.
There are also some wonderful other sites out there that you can find with a simple Google search, but since I don't think they'd be too thrilled to be connected to a fanfic, I won't link them here. However, if you'd like some suggestions on places to go, feel free to hit me up with a PM and I'll do my best to point you to some of the better sites I've found while researching this fic.