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Anyone that thinks "bug chasing" is a myth that's been debunked is not living in the real world. I know that I have had 2 people in my circle of acquaintances that infected themselves on purpose. One was in a relationship with someone who was dying of AIDS in the late 80's or early 90's. He intentionally used a syringe to inject himself with his lover's blood because he was so upset that his lover might die. His lover did pass, but last I knew, he was still living with his decision, seeing the same doctor my partner was seeing. This was about 20 years ago. In another instance, it was a person that I went to school with. In fact, my sister dated him at one time. He was an "starving artist" who slept with poz guys to get the benefits. So while the reasons varied, there are two stories from real life. If you search for bareback porn, it's available all over the internet, and even former bareback performers like Brent Corrigan are asking that you not watch it or support it. Bug chasing is real. Deal with it.
I'm one of those persons who wanted to get infected not because of what I can get from anyone but because all my beautiful friends and lovers were getting infected and I wanted to be with them even if it meant I had to die. My comfort from getting the disease is being together with them and sharing in their plight. I didn't want to be left alone and I preferred to die with my friends than live alone in a world that hated me.
Unbelievable, that anyone would want aillness I have been living with since 1980, having operations for lympnode removal, Pneumonia, Shingles, take meds you have no idea what they will do to you, and that a gay magazine would want to spread such propaganda, even if there are some doing this you kind find crazies in all parts of society. Yes I have had to have some assistance during it all but onl5 after my saving and insurance ran out and was cancelled, but to get AIDS for an income I don't understand, When I first found out they gave me a year to live, but thanks to a higher being I'm still here, you can always find someone standing on a soap box screaming something like the ex gays who say the are discriminated against. We need to educate people instead of giving out bad advice in our pressand making our own people lokk bad.
this article is sensationalistic, but so is the subject matter. i'm very sorry that denial about bugchasing, giftgiving and stealthing remains pervasive in the activist community. the "discrediting of bugchasing" is itself discredited many times a day on many websites, including biggies like manhunt and grindr. it was on the former that i had some men even ask me to send them semen so they could stealth "a friend"...contacting law enforcement and health authorities proved fruitless. these issues only partly overlap the main thrust of the article, which is getting infected for the financial help of social entitlements. it is a stain on society that anyone would seek (or be/feel forced to seek) a deadly illness FOR survival. however, getting people the help and support they need for food and shelter will not itself address the issue of those seeking to be infected, or to infect others. unlike many commentators and activists, i actually agree that law enforcement DOES have an important part to play here...the problem is that the role of the Law has been distorted into an overall witch-hunt of HIV-positive people that continues to intensify worldwide. the law has long trailed far behind science and medicine when it comes to HIV, but many activists trying to address that disconnect are themselves highly disconnected from the sociology of those seeking to infect or be infected. there IS such a thing as the "AIDS Monster"...but HE (overwhelmingly male) is NOT the type who usually gets prosecuted. far more common is the simple, hapless victim getting railroaded by an angry ex-partner, and an overwhelmingly bigoted and outdated legal regime. denial remains a universal human trait, unfortunately. We must fix the social safety net so that no one is ever convinced that becoming HIV+ is the only way they can "save" themselves. we must also fix so-called "Safe Sex" messaging, which has long morphed into utterly tone-deaf, sanctimonious finger wagging that has had the hideously predictable side-effect of actually eroticizing the HIV virus for many. THAT is the point i wish Trenton Straube had not edited out of my comments in the "Can Barebacking Be Safer Sex?" article in POZ months ago. Bareback sex is and will remain inexorable and eternal...scoffing at that has proven dangerously counterproductive. just this month we find Simon Watney telling Mark Adnum on Huffington Post that MORE condom-harangues are what's needed to arrest the infection rates. He even attacks the use of PrEP for ANYONE, at least "in its current form"...willfully stating patent falsehoods about the efficacy of it, and attacking EVEN THE CONCEPT of "harm reduction" when it comes to sex...along with anyone who actually advocates such harm reduction. meanwhile, Mark Adnum himself concedes that PrEP "is appropriate for some", but only in the midst of argument deep within a Facebook thread...never in his own articles. when THIS is the quality of condom-eroticization being offered, bareback sex looks all the hotter...and it certainly is. the danger must be reiterated tho: HIV is an awful virus to have, and i would jump on a cure tomorrow if it becomes available. As soon as it became possible to have the primordial and utterly preferable experience of Natural Sex withOUT getting infected with HIV, the tactic and strategy of attacking Natural Sex as an inevitable path to HIV became utterly irresponsible. it's clear that it will take a few more years for many self-styled Safe(r) Sex activists to get it through their heads: Stop linking Natural Sex and HIV as some sort of inevitable connection...it's a dangerous lie, sometimes even a murderous one. this applies even to many "heroes" (real and imagined) of the HIV community. Past Good cannot obscure or neutralize present Evil.
Sadly, it's true. First, I can truly understand how some homeless would want to contract this as a way to get government assistance, however, actually getting that assistance is by NO MEANS and easy task. Take it from me, I have been fighting for my disability for two years since finding out I had AIDS (not HIV, AIDS....CD4 on diagnosis of 11!!!!!) Now, I also have Lymphoma, and STILL FIGHTING for the disability. But, putting all that aside, there are sights that are strictly created for the conduct / meeting up for poz and neg men, that poz men can search for and neg men can search for poz men as well. How many are already poz, who knows, but I am sure there are many who aren't. The term "chaser" is not unfamiliar to any gay man these days. I myself have had negative men/boys on this very site (POZ.com) with statuses of "neg" or "unknown" proposition me wanting "what I have". The fact that these sites exist is both an accreditation and a deterrent to the 1st Amendment. I am no one to judge, but why such beautiful men, some with SO much home and futures ahead of them, would seek this out is beyond me.
I've been poz since the early 1980's and AIDS since 1999. I was one of the lucky ones to have survived as I did and have only progressed slowly. I have known many men who claimed that AIDS changed their lives in positive ways - usually for the better. Meaning they have woken up to life and are enjoying the time they have as they perhaps would not have before. It could be that these men are looking for a quick fix to thier problems. They also sound like they are not the type to maintain the medical regimin. They will learn pretty quick that what they thought was a gift is something else entirely. Also, living on $600 a month can be a bitch even with housing. So good luck to them 'cause they will need it.
How is this any different from selling your blood, or your body, or your kids? People will do anything to survive. That's the American way. You might have a lifetime to pay for the mistakes you make, and the people you hurt. In the meantime; you survive until you can do better. I'm not mad at him. Warning: One day you look back and see everybody you could've infected, intentionally or not. And it kills you.
scott
This is a crazy way to think .I would do anything to go back and be smart and not have struggled the past 23 years. Every time something good happens, then here comes the DEMON AIDS and takes it away from me. Guys it's time to WAKE UP. Poz SC
November 21, 2015