"Excuse me, God? I think I have the answer"
Right now I'm reading War in the Blood: Sex, Politics and AIDS in Southeast Asia, by Chris Beyrer (1998). I saw it on Billy's bookshelf and asked if I could borrow it. When I didn't have internet access this morning (UB's server was down, or something), I just read the book and munched on the raisin granola I have here.
I was captured by Beyrer's description of what Thailand's statesman Khun Anand Panyarachun did when he was acting as the prime minister. When confronted with the data that unprotected sex in brothels was the leading cause of HIV transmission in Thailand at that time, he did something really wonderful - he started something called the "100% Condom Campaign" where health-care workers and -educators distributed millions of condoms and taught sex workers (and others) how to use them and protect themselves during sex.
Sounds simple, right? Khun Anand (and everyone who worked with and for him), however, were operating under a fantastic set of assumptions, though. They weren't punitive - sex workers or their clients weren't arrested, nothing was criminalized - instead, they empowered people to do the right thing (protect themselves and others from HIV).
Instead of taking away options, Khun Anand gave more options, better options.
This is in contrast to so many people's ways of thinking. If someone's doing something bad or wrong or dangerous, we punish them, right? But, time and again, we see the backlash, the rebellion.
Khun Anand must have known that criminalizing prostitution or cracking down on johns wouldn't have helped the problem, so he empowered his people to do what everyone already knows is right.
Like Beyrer has been saying so far (I'm only on page 55) is that the spread of HIV has shaken social and political institutions to the core, and that - in order to effectively combat the virus - people and governments need to be honest - really honest - in what's going on and what people do. People have sex, no doubt. People do drugs, sure. We need to admit these things and look at them clearly if we want to work with these populations to keep them and their kin safe.
...I would like to bring in Dr. Brene Brown's research on shame at this point. The reason why people hide, lie, twist the truth, and other things like that is because of shame. Shame is fear of separation. And there's that magic word - fear. We have to acknowledge our fears and be honest about our shame if we want to make any headway with anything, HIV infection included.
Men have sex with men, but instead of punishing them and aggravating their shame, what can we do to empower them?
I honestly believe that the next evolution of humanity is in moving away from a punitive mindset (law of domination), and embracing an empowering mindset (law of dominion). There is no more room or time for pushing and shoving - both literally and metaphorically. If we want to survive - any of us, in any situation - then we're going to need to take a breath, take a moment, put things into perspective, and figure out how we can all live our lives fully and completely.
I was captured by Beyrer's description of what Thailand's statesman Khun Anand Panyarachun did when he was acting as the prime minister. When confronted with the data that unprotected sex in brothels was the leading cause of HIV transmission in Thailand at that time, he did something really wonderful - he started something called the "100% Condom Campaign" where health-care workers and -educators distributed millions of condoms and taught sex workers (and others) how to use them and protect themselves during sex.
Sounds simple, right? Khun Anand (and everyone who worked with and for him), however, were operating under a fantastic set of assumptions, though. They weren't punitive - sex workers or their clients weren't arrested, nothing was criminalized - instead, they empowered people to do the right thing (protect themselves and others from HIV).
Instead of taking away options, Khun Anand gave more options, better options.
This is in contrast to so many people's ways of thinking. If someone's doing something bad or wrong or dangerous, we punish them, right? But, time and again, we see the backlash, the rebellion.
Khun Anand must have known that criminalizing prostitution or cracking down on johns wouldn't have helped the problem, so he empowered his people to do what everyone already knows is right.
Like Beyrer has been saying so far (I'm only on page 55) is that the spread of HIV has shaken social and political institutions to the core, and that - in order to effectively combat the virus - people and governments need to be honest - really honest - in what's going on and what people do. People have sex, no doubt. People do drugs, sure. We need to admit these things and look at them clearly if we want to work with these populations to keep them and their kin safe.
...I would like to bring in Dr. Brene Brown's research on shame at this point. The reason why people hide, lie, twist the truth, and other things like that is because of shame. Shame is fear of separation. And there's that magic word - fear. We have to acknowledge our fears and be honest about our shame if we want to make any headway with anything, HIV infection included.
Men have sex with men, but instead of punishing them and aggravating their shame, what can we do to empower them?
I honestly believe that the next evolution of humanity is in moving away from a punitive mindset (law of domination), and embracing an empowering mindset (law of dominion). There is no more room or time for pushing and shoving - both literally and metaphorically. If we want to survive - any of us, in any situation - then we're going to need to take a breath, take a moment, put things into perspective, and figure out how we can all live our lives fully and completely.