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 …

Reporting for IPS, Johanna Son paints a sharp picture of how gender and sexual ideology combined with conservative and religious forces oppose two sexual health technologies in a controversial fight.
“Why is Viagra so desired and condoms so repulsive in many cultures?” asks Michael Tan a reproductive health activist and chair of the University of the Philippines anthropology department.
Paradoxically, whilst one is broadly accepted socially for improving and extending male’s sexual performance, that’s Viagra, the other is shunned away for encouraging promiscuity. Whilst one is an essential tool in the fight …

In an article for the Pink News, Ramsey Dehani questioned “modern” HIV prevention campaigns asking if they were failing younger generations. Observing that campaigns promoting condom use have more or less disappeared to be replaced by testing campaigns, Dehani noted that many people still die of ignorance and recalled a conversation he had with a 20-year-old gay student who was more concerned about getting gonorrhoea than HIV (statistically speaking, the youg guy in question was rather well informed).
Should HIV prevention campaigns target the blasé attitude of younger generations that have …

This advert was produced by GMFA to highlight the fact that you can’t be sure of someone’s HIV status by his looks, his behaviour, the sex he likes or where you meet.

Rating 3.00 out of 5

The column below is worth reprinting in full with a bit of background. recently started to write a regular piece for the Singapore-based gay website Fridae.com.
After three columns he had successfully alienated most of the Singaporean, Asian and Rice Queen Fridae members by writing against the flow on the subject of HIV prevention amongst MSM. In the instalment preceding the one reprinted below, Jan suggested more oral sex and less anal sex as an addition to the panoply of HIV prevention approaches. In no time he was assaulted from …