"Technology isn't neutral" (waiting 6 months in the "out" drawer...)
Just in case you haven't figured it out, an unnamed internet security company CEO was quoted as saying that recently (13 Oct 2017).
It just reminded me of sex apps. I'm a "member" of 5 apps. My engagement tends to be in Spanish because I live in Barcelona. And I am a health activist. In all of my profiles, I say that BB is the new safe, and that in Spain, people can go to quieroprepya.info to get more info on PrEP and maybe buy PrEP if they want/can. Although PrEP has been approved for 5 years in many places, and in some European countries since 2013, it is not available in Spain. So I let people know where to go, not only to buy it, but to do some personal activism and contact the Ministry of Health to change that sad fact. In Spain, approx. 1000-2000 people a year become HIV-infected, a number that has been steady for at least the last 15 years.
One of the apps, Hornet, is one that was (IMHO, poorly-) designed based on letting the world know your HIV status. Someone thought that this would somehow change the stigma-balance, by having everyone say "yes" or "no". Most people don't actually say, and it's just another place to try to get laid. Some people do say, I'd guesstimate that 98% of people who report their status are negative. Which doesn't help those who are poz to come out. Anyway, when I put the "BB is the new safe" line, I got a message saying that references to bareback or bb were not allowed and my profile had been edited accordingly. (They removed the BB reference). And I wonder if they would accept the U=U thing, if they have heard it yet. But that would lead you down the same track, and if undetectable viral load is a tool in the Safe Sex toolbox, how can you not allow it?
Anyway, last October (2017) Grnder, who has my same profile as Hornet, suspended me. I freaked out (I didn't really freak out! but I did ask them why), titling my request like the Almodovar movie, "What have I done to deserve this?" Later yesterday I saw I was allowed in again. Chalked it up to a tech mistake. This morning I saw an email from them. They said they were reviewing their services at the same time that the velocity of the moving ball was changing (they chose this field to capitalize in, what did they expect?). Anyway, the more recent (march/april 2018 scandal) rumors have come out that they are in the least, allowing interchange of HIV status for research, have not helped Grnder's case of being open and honest brokers of "our" information.
Obviously, there is work to do to let everyone know that U=U and that we as sexual beings can decide "if we need to protect ourselves against every single infection out there at every single moment of our lives", or if we can make rational decisions based on what we know and our needs and the moment we are in, to decide if we need to protect against HIV 110% and against STIs very highly, etc For example, a guy once suggested he would only have oral (!) sex with me (not knowing my status) with a condom. I couldn't do it. Well, I have done it in the past, and thought, no, knew I wouldn't like it, confirmed I didn't like it, not going back there.
And also, if we get to make that decision (sex w/ or w/o condoms), or if others can impose it upon us. At a gay sauna, they offer a dish of condoms and sometimes lube for those who want it, but they do not have cameras or a person in the room to make sure we actually do it. Those are individual decisions. For Hornet (and their backwards policy of everyone knowing everyone else's status as a game-changer) and worse (IMHO) Grnder for trying to police the actions of what two (or more!) adults do simply by the introductory words they use - now I better understand why no one ever says very much on these sites - they are more often than not shut down for being who they are!
Also, although now Grnder has taken down any reference of PrEP and BB, my message was up there for a few months, so I hope those who did visit me did go on and look at the QPY site, because my campaign overall was about our right in Spain to have access to this fairly cheap prevention tool that is completely autonomous and controlled by you, for centimes a month. If the homophobes in Madrid and Barcelona won't allow us access, we should have the right to go to Thailand to buy the protection we need for the sex we have a right to.
Background:
We evaluated attitudes towards Treatment as Prevention (TasP) among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) in Vancouver, Canada.
Methods:Sexually-active GBM, aged >16, were recruited between 2012-2015 using respondentdriven sampling. At each six-month follow-up, participants completed a computer-administered questionnaire and nursing visit. Repeated measures latent class analysis (RMLCA), grouped by self-reported serostatus, identified patterns of TasP-endorsement by considering TasP-related awareness, attitudes, and behavior. Binary logistic regression identified covariates of class membership. Bivariate interactions with visit number identified factors associated with longitudinal changes in class membership.
Results:774 men provided 2,590 observations. Of these, 698 enrolled in the cohort, 575 had at least 1 follow-up visit. Among these, the median follow-up time was 1.98 (Q1-Q2: 1.49-2.49) years. RMLCA identified three classes: “Unaware” (64.2% HIV-negative/unknown versus 29.2% of HIV-positive), “Skeptical” (29.7% versus 23.1%), and “Believing” (6.1% versus 47.7%). Membership in classes representing higher TasP-endorsement was associated with greater odds of condomless anal sex (CAS) and having more sexual partners. Age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, substance use, and social time spent with other GBM were also associated with class membership. Longitudinally, class membership was stable among HIV-positive men, but shifted towards greater TasP-endorsement among HIV-negative/unknown men. For HIV-negative/unknown men, increasing endorsement was positively associated with greater education, being employed, being in a relationship, and substance use, and inversely associated with recent serodiscordant CAS or STI diagnosis.
Conclusion:Over time, disparities in TasP diffusion by HIV status have lessened, though continue to persist across other key social strata.
It just reminded me of sex apps. I'm a "member" of 5 apps. My engagement tends to be in Spanish because I live in Barcelona. And I am a health activist. In all of my profiles, I say that BB is the new safe, and that in Spain, people can go to quieroprepya.info to get more info on PrEP and maybe buy PrEP if they want/can. Although PrEP has been approved for 5 years in many places, and in some European countries since 2013, it is not available in Spain. So I let people know where to go, not only to buy it, but to do some personal activism and contact the Ministry of Health to change that sad fact. In Spain, approx. 1000-2000 people a year become HIV-infected, a number that has been steady for at least the last 15 years.
One of the apps, Hornet, is one that was (IMHO, poorly-) designed based on letting the world know your HIV status. Someone thought that this would somehow change the stigma-balance, by having everyone say "yes" or "no". Most people don't actually say, and it's just another place to try to get laid. Some people do say, I'd guesstimate that 98% of people who report their status are negative. Which doesn't help those who are poz to come out. Anyway, when I put the "BB is the new safe" line, I got a message saying that references to bareback or bb were not allowed and my profile had been edited accordingly. (They removed the BB reference). And I wonder if they would accept the U=U thing, if they have heard it yet. But that would lead you down the same track, and if undetectable viral load is a tool in the Safe Sex toolbox, how can you not allow it?
Anyway, last October (2017) Grnder, who has my same profile as Hornet, suspended me. I freaked out (I didn't really freak out! but I did ask them why), titling my request like the Almodovar movie, "What have I done to deserve this?" Later yesterday I saw I was allowed in again. Chalked it up to a tech mistake. This morning I saw an email from them. They said they were reviewing their services at the same time that the velocity of the moving ball was changing (they chose this field to capitalize in, what did they expect?). Anyway, the more recent (march/april 2018 scandal) rumors have come out that they are in the least, allowing interchange of HIV status for research, have not helped Grnder's case of being open and honest brokers of "our" information.
Obviously, there is work to do to let everyone know that U=U and that we as sexual beings can decide "if we need to protect ourselves against every single infection out there at every single moment of our lives", or if we can make rational decisions based on what we know and our needs and the moment we are in, to decide if we need to protect against HIV 110% and against STIs very highly, etc For example, a guy once suggested he would only have oral (!) sex with me (not knowing my status) with a condom. I couldn't do it. Well, I have done it in the past, and thought, no, knew I wouldn't like it, confirmed I didn't like it, not going back there.
And also, if we get to make that decision (sex w/ or w/o condoms), or if others can impose it upon us. At a gay sauna, they offer a dish of condoms and sometimes lube for those who want it, but they do not have cameras or a person in the room to make sure we actually do it. Those are individual decisions. For Hornet (and their backwards policy of everyone knowing everyone else's status as a game-changer) and worse (IMHO) Grnder for trying to police the actions of what two (or more!) adults do simply by the introductory words they use - now I better understand why no one ever says very much on these sites - they are more often than not shut down for being who they are!
Also, although now Grnder has taken down any reference of PrEP and BB, my message was up there for a few months, so I hope those who did visit me did go on and look at the QPY site, because my campaign overall was about our right in Spain to have access to this fairly cheap prevention tool that is completely autonomous and controlled by you, for centimes a month. If the homophobes in Madrid and Barcelona won't allow us access, we should have the right to go to Thailand to buy the protection we need for the sex we have a right to.
Background:
We evaluated attitudes towards Treatment as Prevention (TasP) among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) in Vancouver, Canada.
Methods:Sexually-active GBM, aged >16, were recruited between 2012-2015 using respondentdriven sampling. At each six-month follow-up, participants completed a computer-administered questionnaire and nursing visit. Repeated measures latent class analysis (RMLCA), grouped by self-reported serostatus, identified patterns of TasP-endorsement by considering TasP-related awareness, attitudes, and behavior. Binary logistic regression identified covariates of class membership. Bivariate interactions with visit number identified factors associated with longitudinal changes in class membership.
Results:774 men provided 2,590 observations. Of these, 698 enrolled in the cohort, 575 had at least 1 follow-up visit. Among these, the median follow-up time was 1.98 (Q1-Q2: 1.49-2.49) years. RMLCA identified three classes: “Unaware” (64.2% HIV-negative/unknown versus 29.2% of HIV-positive), “Skeptical” (29.7% versus 23.1%), and “Believing” (6.1% versus 47.7%). Membership in classes representing higher TasP-endorsement was associated with greater odds of condomless anal sex (CAS) and having more sexual partners. Age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, substance use, and social time spent with other GBM were also associated with class membership. Longitudinally, class membership was stable among HIV-positive men, but shifted towards greater TasP-endorsement among HIV-negative/unknown men. For HIV-negative/unknown men, increasing endorsement was positively associated with greater education, being employed, being in a relationship, and substance use, and inversely associated with recent serodiscordant CAS or STI diagnosis.
Conclusion:Over time, disparities in TasP diffusion by HIV status have lessened, though continue to persist across other key social strata.
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