(no subject)
(Cross-posted from Kovu's journal, based on his post about the latest furry STD scare. Please post comments that are relevant to my post in my journal, rather than Kovu's - thanks.)
Regardless of the accuracy or motivation, Furry can use a good STD scare on a regular basis. Based solely on the "Geek Fallacies" it's easy to see that, if you extend those things to the sexual arena, and given the highly sexual state of the furry fandom - it's a recipe for rampant disease spread. Worse even than the standard sexual arena (gay or straight), which is by no means "careful" to start with. In fact, if it wasn't already as insular and closed as it is (though by no means completely closed, which is what people believe, and part of why they are so trusting), I'm sure it'd already have happened on a much larger scale than it has.
And there have been some real scares, even if this one is not. I know, I had to deal personally with at least two so far, and I know of at least two others that close friends had to deal with. And I've always been pretty careful, and have been getting even more so as I get older and realize how serious this whole thing really is.
I am astounded by the number of times I am told that I don't have to worry about a condom, or asked if I mind if someone else doesn't use one - of course I mind! I am not so conceited to think that I am so special and marvelous that I'm the first person you've made this offer to; not to mention that I also do not think that I am above having possibly contracted something that I don't even know about yet, and I don't need to pass that on before I even know it's there. Even if I've just been tested, because some things can be present and communicative before detection is possible - if you have an HIV scare you're sometimes told to get tested immediately and then tested again a few months later, as it may not show up in tests right away.
Add that to the fact that even when you do use a condom, it could break or tear, or be faulty. Then add that there are still some STDs, other than HIV/AIDS, which are not curable, and some of those are spread by skin contact, not bodily fluids - you can catch those even if you do use a condom, even if there are no fluids transmitted at all.
Having an STD is really freakin' crappy. Even if, unlike AIDS, it is not almost certainly fatal. Even if it's relatively easily curable. I don't want one, I don't want anyone I know to get one, and I want everyone in the whole world to be as careful as possible so that as many people as possible can enjoy living without one for as long as possible, hopefully forever.
And, having gone through it, I know how hard it is to have to tell all your lovers that you might have given them a disease - and I fully expect that over half of the people who contract something don't bother to tell anyone, even those they might have put at risk, because they simply cannot face that thought. It is probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do, and I do not back down easily from my responsibilities. I fully expect that some of those same people don't even warn new lovers, because they want sex badly enough to put a lover at risk, and they are so busy pretending that they don't have it that they start to believe it.
So, at this point I'm not against someone starting an AIDS scares now and again, just to remind people to be careful, to be responsible, and to have a little respect for themselves, their lovers, and humanity in general.
Do not put yourself at risk.
Do not put your lovers at risk.
Do not be the one who has to say "I have STD(x), I may have given it to you, please get checked."
Do not be the one who should have said that and didn't, and thus allowed it to spread to those you love, those that they love, and so on.
Be. Freakin'. Careful.
B.
Regardless of the accuracy or motivation, Furry can use a good STD scare on a regular basis. Based solely on the "Geek Fallacies" it's easy to see that, if you extend those things to the sexual arena, and given the highly sexual state of the furry fandom - it's a recipe for rampant disease spread. Worse even than the standard sexual arena (gay or straight), which is by no means "careful" to start with. In fact, if it wasn't already as insular and closed as it is (though by no means completely closed, which is what people believe, and part of why they are so trusting), I'm sure it'd already have happened on a much larger scale than it has.
And there have been some real scares, even if this one is not. I know, I had to deal personally with at least two so far, and I know of at least two others that close friends had to deal with. And I've always been pretty careful, and have been getting even more so as I get older and realize how serious this whole thing really is.
I am astounded by the number of times I am told that I don't have to worry about a condom, or asked if I mind if someone else doesn't use one - of course I mind! I am not so conceited to think that I am so special and marvelous that I'm the first person you've made this offer to; not to mention that I also do not think that I am above having possibly contracted something that I don't even know about yet, and I don't need to pass that on before I even know it's there. Even if I've just been tested, because some things can be present and communicative before detection is possible - if you have an HIV scare you're sometimes told to get tested immediately and then tested again a few months later, as it may not show up in tests right away.
Add that to the fact that even when you do use a condom, it could break or tear, or be faulty. Then add that there are still some STDs, other than HIV/AIDS, which are not curable, and some of those are spread by skin contact, not bodily fluids - you can catch those even if you do use a condom, even if there are no fluids transmitted at all.
Having an STD is really freakin' crappy. Even if, unlike AIDS, it is not almost certainly fatal. Even if it's relatively easily curable. I don't want one, I don't want anyone I know to get one, and I want everyone in the whole world to be as careful as possible so that as many people as possible can enjoy living without one for as long as possible, hopefully forever.
And, having gone through it, I know how hard it is to have to tell all your lovers that you might have given them a disease - and I fully expect that over half of the people who contract something don't bother to tell anyone, even those they might have put at risk, because they simply cannot face that thought. It is probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do, and I do not back down easily from my responsibilities. I fully expect that some of those same people don't even warn new lovers, because they want sex badly enough to put a lover at risk, and they are so busy pretending that they don't have it that they start to believe it.
So, at this point I'm not against someone starting an AIDS scares now and again, just to remind people to be careful, to be responsible, and to have a little respect for themselves, their lovers, and humanity in general.
Do not put yourself at risk.
Do not put your lovers at risk.
Do not be the one who has to say "I have STD(x), I may have given it to you, please get checked."
Do not be the one who should have said that and didn't, and thus allowed it to spread to those you love, those that they love, and so on.
Be. Freakin'. Careful.
B.