My AIDS Awareness Post

As I did last year, I didn't want to sully Libby's birthday on an issue which should be discussed all year round and not just on a special day, designated to this particular disease and social phenomena.

I'll keep this short, because you can go back on the link and read what I wrote a year ago, unfortunately the only thing changed is that more people are infected with HIV and contracted AIDS and that more people are dead because of it.

Here's what you really need to know about HIV and AIDS:
- HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a (retro)virus, AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is a disease. You contract AIDS through HIV.
- One cannot acquire HIV through sitting on the same toilet as a person with HIV/AIDS, using the same plates and cutlery, breathing the same air, simple skin-to-skin touch, or even by kissing (even French kissing)
- Saliva is a hostile environment to the HIV retrovirus, this means the retrovirus cannot multiply and be contagious in the mouth, making kissing a-okay.
- This is not the case for other bodily fluids, specifically blood and genital fluids (semen, vaginal fluids, breast milk, etc.)
- These are the most common ways of contracting HIV/AIDS - sharing dirty needles, having unprotected sex, via the umbilical cord, via breast feeding, receiving an infected blood transfusion, cross infections via open wounds.

I am not an expert of HIV/AIDS, I do not claim to have any professional medical knowledge what so ever, all my knowledge I gained by paying attention and wanting to keep myself safe from diseases I can actually avoid.

That being said, HIV/AIDS is more than a disease. It is a social phenomena, in which those who have it are still stigmatized, feared and treated as social pariahs to a certain extent.
AIDS is not a Gay disease, it is not a Junkie disease, it is not an African disease, it is not an East-Asian disease.
It is a people disease and they should not be punished for having to live it.

There are no high risk groups, everyone is at risk if they do not pay attention and think "this can't happen to me", it can and with that kind of attitude it will.

And yes, that is damn scary.

Stay safe and stay smart.

Thank my Brother

Star Trek:TOS fans will get a kick out of this:

Flowers for FGM Awareness

Amnesty International has launched a new ad campaign to raise awareness for the fight against female genital mutilation.
Pandagon and Feministing have already posted about it.
I found the ads very evocative: ( Pictures under the cut )

I think it details the meaningless destruction of something beautiful, without making it look obscene or cliched.

Flowers have more often than not been used to describe or be a euphemism for female genitalia, not just the vagina, but the vulva, the clitoris, the labia majora and minora, and of course we can't not think of famous painter Georgia O'Keef who made famous the use of flowers to describe the beauty and sexuality of female genitalia.

I've heard from people that it is now considered cliche to use flowers as genitalia, but I think in this ad campaign it is used excellently, because the flowers evoke innocence, which is exactly what these (most usually) pre-pubesant girls lose when they are mutilated in such a way.

I'd love to hear what y'all think.