STDs in London

[axebahia]

An escort who I have been with several times informed me when I contacted him that because over half the escorts in London now have STDs or HIV, he now only performs oral sex if the client wears a condom. Are his stats accurate? Has anyone else heard this from other London-based escorts?

[Guest Throat Poker]

>An escort who I have been with several times informed me when

>I contacted him that because over half the escorts in London

>now have STDs or HIV, he now only performs oral sex if the

>client wears a condom. Are his stats accurate? Has anyone

>else heard this from other London-based escorts?

 

I really don't wish to be rude but - after thinking about this for even half a second - how can you possibly think this statement is based on any kind of fact? The escort has access to the medical records of all London escorts, does he? If not, how is this stat ever going to be proved one way or the other? Our government publishes a lot of statistics on all sorts of things but the health status of our gay escorts isn't one of them. If he wants a client to wear a condom for oral sex then fine, that's a perfectly respectable personal choice; and you too have a choice to make - either hire him or don't; but let's not succumb to this spurious impossible-to-prove nonsense.

[axebahia]

I seem to recall hearing of a similar recent study reporting a significant rise of STDs among gay men in London. I guess that's why it resonated with me. Does anyone have any more info?

[+ glutes]

Rabbi Axebahia:

Go to Google or Ask.com (std rate london), they seem to support what you are asking. Third World rate for LondonTown????

[EXPAT]

It's true that STDs are up among 17 - 21 year olds. It seems that safer sex practices are going "unpracticed" by the very gay young. A lesson that they will all learn the hardway, I'm afraid.

[Michael]

Just remember that 83.7% of all statistics are made up.

[axebahia]

>Just remember that 83.7% of all statistics are made up.

 

... including this one?

:o

[+ Lucky]

My own personal survey* revealed that only 39% of the escorts had HIV, although 23% of them had other STD's at the moment. Of the 61% non-HIV, 44% had a current STD. Makes you think that HIV rate will be going up soon.

 

*Survey statistics courtesy of Lucky Labs UK Inc. (LUKI). Margin of area close to 100%. May not be used without specific permisssion of LUKI.

[LovesYng]

>My own personal survey* revealed that only 39% of the escorts

>had HIV, although 23% of them had other STD's at the moment.

>Of the 61% non-HIV, 44% had a current STD. Makes you think

>that HIV rate will be going up soon.

>

>*Survey statistics courtesy of Lucky Labs UK Inc. (LUKI).

>Margin of area close to 100%. May not be used without specific

>permisssion of LUKI.

 

DAMN so between the smokers & STD guys guess your screwed:7

 

When in doubt I whip it out:+

[axebahia]

Gay men in HIV concern

By Jonathan Amos

BBC News Online science staff, in Salford

 

Some disaffected gay men in London are deliberately exposing themselves to the HIV virus in the belief that it will give them a "badge" of belonging, a researcher has claimed.

 

The claim was made by researcher Dr Melissa Parker, a medical anthropologist at Brunel University.

 

Parker is studying sexual networks and HIV transmission in the capital and says anecdotal evidence from in-depth interviews is revealing deeply disturbing information about some individuals' behaviour.

 

She says traditional safe sex messages are failing to reach these vulnerable men and the authorities appear reluctant to address their problems head on.

 

Multiple partners

 

This could be because their sexual practices if discussed openly are likely to shock mainstream society and promote homophobia.

 

These activities involve visiting so-called backrooms in pubs and other venues where men can engage in unprotected sex with multiple partners.

 

Dr Parker told the British Association science festival that several hundred men could pass through these backrooms each day, with some individuals having sex with 30 to 40 partners on any one visit.

 

"The prevalence of HIV in the UK among men who have sex with other men continues to rise and, in part, this can be attributed to the fact that HIV is being transmitted with a deliberate recklessness in the backrooms of London's pubs, clubs and saunas."

 

Controversially, she claimed some men were deliberately trying to catch HIV in their search for identity.

 

Soft data

 

"There is a significant number of men who struggle with being gay," Dr Parker told the BBC. "They long to belong. They can't help putting themselves in vulnerable situations where they might acquire the virus.

 

"There is a tendency for some men to say 'now I'm HIV positive, I am truly gay'. They want to get into that caring more supportive world and the acquisition of a diagnosis is obviously going to help them do that."

 

Dr Parker conceded she had no solid data to back up this claim - only the comments of many gay men she had spoken to during long interviews conducted over a period of years.

 

She said there was an urgent need to develop an effective intervention strategy that made unsafe sex in backrooms unacceptable and unavailable.

 

Commenting, the Aids charity the Terrence Higgins Trust said it was deeply sceptical about Dr Parker's assertions.

 

It said the Brunel researcher had no real evidence to support her remarks and their only effect would be to increase prejudice against gay men.

 

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/3095666.stm

 

Published: 2003/09/10 03:57:32 GMT

[+ glutes]

>

>

>Some disaffected gay men in London are deliberately exposing

>themselves to the HIV virus in the belief that it will give

>them a "badge" of belonging, a researcher has claimed.

 

An HIV 'badge', really.

This thread also has some bearing on the the bare-backing thread, the youth of today don't know, or care, about safer sex practices.

[Guest Kenguy]

As far as my experience goes, which is pretty fair (at least one escort a week for a couple of years before I left a month ago) this is total rubbis,