The perception that it’s mostly black men who are on the “down low” could damage efforts to prevent HIV, according to a column in the March issue of The Annals Of Epidemiology. The authors say the idea that black men are secretly and recklessly spreading HIV by not telling their female partners they are having unsafe sex with other men ignores other explanations for high HIV rates such as poverty, high incarceration rates and lack of healthcare.
Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
