“Women now account for half of the 33 million people living with HIV around the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, home to two-thirds of the world’s people living with HIV, women are even harder hit, making up 60 percent of those infected. Not only are women biologically more susceptible than men to HIV, many behavioral and social factors play into women’s vulnerability.
If a young woman is uninfected with HIV at the time of her marriage, traditional wisdom says that she has avoided the disease altogether. More and more, however, research shows …

Why is it that history repeats itself all over the world again and again? According to the Chinese News agency Xihua, “Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered on Monday to halt condom advertisement on televisions, saying that he does not feel the advertisement help curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS, but a promotion of condom sales.”
And why? No guess.
“On several occasions, Hun Sen has criticized TV spots for some parts, damaging the country’s culture, tradition and even considered harmful to public health.”
But according to the Avert Website, “Cambodia’s national HIV prevalence …

Documentary film maker Tim Samuels investigates the globalization of pornography and its connection to health issues in developing countries.
“In Ghana you see the most extraordinary impact of the mainstream western pornography which is predominantly made in Los Angeles and is predominantly condom free. That pornography somehow makes its way to even the most remote and obscure parts of Ghana in Africa.
There are villages which don’t even have electricity; where people live in mud huts; where generators get wheeled into the village and mud huts get turned into impromptu pornographic cinemas. …

Worapoj Petchkhoom who appeared ligthly dressed in Stage modelling magazine.

Thailand has a serious problem of, and with, its image. The recent fighting ban imposed on Muai Thai boxer Worapoj Petchkhoom is the latest example of politics based on, and aiming at, keeping up appearances and reputation at the expense of addressing more fundamental issues. Worapoj was banned from competition for 3 months because he posed lightly dressed for a Thai modeling magazine, Stage, which appeals to many gay readers.  The images were not considered obscene but still “they have tarnished …

Riding bareback:
personal choice vs. social responsability?

The recent decision by the IML’s (International Mr. Leather) executive committee to ban retailers at the group’s annual convention from displaying or selling any pornographic photos and videos which portray or promote unprotected sex, also known as barebacking, triggered a heated debate in the gay and HIV blogosphere. The most quoted response came from Tony Valenzuela who in part elevated the debate above that of accusation of fascism and censorship writing:
“Maybe the better question isn’t whether or not IML’s new policy is censorship – it …