I am a 41-year-old heterosexual woman who has been living with HIV for 16 years and AIDS for two years. I am very frustrated at what is happening to the whole HIV/AIDS issue. People aren't being exposed to reality, and the government is cutting our funds every year! I wonder if part of it is because of my silence and other hetero silence; maybe people still feel they are safe. We are a voyeuristic society and yet you hardly ever see anyone addressing the issue of HIV/AIDS here in the United States on TV anymore (except for the PBS anniversary special).
It makes me so angry because I was one of those people who thought, "It can't happen to me." Yet, in a county close by, the pregnancy rate is the highest in the state...but no real services. Only case management offered by the Health Department. Hello! If teenagers are getting pregnant, what else are they exposing themselves to?
It also frustrates me that you can open just about any HIV magazine and approximately 90% of the ads for drugs have a homosexual man or men on them. Aren't they just personifying the image of AIDS as a gay-only disease?
Karen
Is there something you feel strongly about? Email us your argument at views@poz.com (subject line: views) and we may post it.
