World AIDS Day came and went this week with hardly a murmur. I would have expected to see people selling or at least wearing red ribbons on 1st December, but those who were must have just blended into the background while everyone else concentrated on getting ready for the holiday season. Anyone would think that HIV and AIDS are no longer a problem in the 21st Century. Actually, it would appear that’s exactly what the vast majority of people do think.
In the UK in the 1980s, people seemed to be under the false impression that this new disease was something which could only be caught by gay men. Of course, not everyone’s simply ‘gay’ or ‘straight’ and HIV is not only passed on by sex, so the virus had already started to spread to the wider population.
To combat this dangerous lack of knowledge, the Government launched an extremely scary awareness campaign entitled “AIDS: Don’t Die of Ignorance” and distributed a leaflet to all homes containing several myth-busting facts and some useful advice. Pretty soon, even previously oblivious school kids like me knew that you couldn’t catch HIV from toilet seats and having sex without a condom was a pretty dumb thing to do.
Since then, it would seem that HIV awareness has been in steady decline. No one thinks it’ll happen to them and, well, you don’t actually die from it these days anyway, do you? On 1st December I noticed a tweet that seemed to be doing the rounds on Twitter, pointing out the irony that, “190 people get swine flu & everyone wants to wear a mask. 10m people get AIDS and no one wants to wear a condom”.
Yes, a condom. Not exactly difficult, is it? Makes you wonder why more people don’t use them. Hopefully the current “Want Respect? Use A Condom” campaign in the UK is encouraging horny teenagers to think about safe sex a little more, even if it is just because their favourite hip-hop star or the hot girl and/or boy they fancy will think they’re a twat if they don’t. Recent figures released by the Health Protection Agency showed the numbers of people living with HIV in the UK had reached an all-time high of 85,000 so we really do have to do something and fast.
Condoms have changed a lot in recent years and so using one isn’t actually going to spoil things one little bit. There’s something for everybody. For those who find them tricky to put on, there are condoms like Always Right which come in easy to open packs and are always the right way up.
For those who think condoms get in the way of their sensation, why not try something like Mates Skyn or Durex Avanti Ultima which are ‘barely there’? Try lubricated, ribbed, flavoured, different sizes and also different brands to see which works best for you. And for those who don’t have much money, the NHS provides free condoms so don’t forget to ask next time you visit your GP or sexual health clinic. You don’t really have an excuse now, do you? Sex can be fun and safe you know.
image via worldaidsday.org