(See previous posts Gay bareback sex books (3/5/07))
The Southern Voice recently published two good articles about younger gay men and bareback sex: Ryan Lee, "Death of the condom - Are gay young people no longer 'Strapping up'? Part 1 of 2," Southern Voice, Oct. 26, 2007 and Ryan Lee, "Fatigued gay men face new challenges in HIV fight - From online hook-ups to gay porn, condoms no longer a must-have, Part 2 of 2," Southern Voice, Nov. 2, 2007. The first part noted that even though nearly everybody knows wearing a condom will prevent HIV infection, sex education programs to encourage the use of condoms are negligently ignoring gay sex.
"Where I grew up, I always heard gay is wrong, and all gays have HIV," said Fitzgerald, who is now 18. But Fitzgerald persevered as the only gay teenager at his high school, and finally discovered a more accepting environment when he attended his first Atlanta Gay Pride festival in June 2005.
As he began frequenting gay venues and indulging in promiscuous sex, Fitzgerald developed a crude HIV-detection system that he thought would keep him safe. His screening process led him to start a relationship and have unprotected sex with a boy he met at a birthday party in early June 2006. Fitzgerald had never seen the young man before, which he interpreted as a good sign.
"I figured he was somewhat of a new person who hadn't been around the block," said Fitzgerald, who had a three-and-a-half week relationship with the young man. Three months later, on Sept. 17, 2006, Fitzgerald tested HIV-positive at age 17. "I never felt like I was Superman, I just felt like I could outsmart the system," he said. "I always felt like it definitely could happen to me, but I thought I could figure out a certain method of how it was dispersed by people.
"It's definitely something I was not expecting, especially this early in my life," Fitzgerald added. . .
The numbers suggesting steady condom use among gay youth don't harmonize with 23-year-old Kelvin Barlow's experiences in Atlanta. "A lot of my partners are not thinking about condoms," said Barlow, who was diagnosed with HIV at age 17. "I think I'm usually the first one to bring [condom use] up [in sexual situations]. Sometimes my partners know my status and sometimes they don't - they just want to jump in the bed."
Barlow believes a combination of ignorance and emptiness led to his seroconversion. "At that time I was the dumbest thing walking - I thought I was invincible and could do whatever and not get ill," said Barlow, who was 15 and dating a 35-year-old man. "I thought I was in this relationship with this man who loved me, why do we need to wear condoms?". . .
Condoms also rarely appear in sex education classes across the country, particularly in Georgia. A growing number of states are beginning to refuse federal funding for sex education because they don't want their content restricted by President Bush's abstinence-only mandates, with New York joining 11 other states last month in rejecting federal abstinence funding. . .
"Of course, the distribution of condoms, I guess, goes against what the [department] policy says," Cardoza said. Sex education classes in Loganville were vague and useless when Fitzgerald was in school.
"During our sex education, they, No. 1, never talked about gay sex, and No. 2, they never talked about having sex and using condoms," Fitzgerald said.
With abstinence-until-marriage messages contradicted by constitutional same-sex marriage bans, gay youth "are basically told their very existence is not accepted," said Futterman.
(Quoted from Ryan Lee, "Death of the condom - Are gay young people no longer 'Strapping up'? Part 1 of 2," Southern Voice, Oct. 26, 2007)
The second part talks about how established gay porno producers, who had been religiously using condoms in their video productions, are under market pressures to produce bareback videos. In addition to wanting to promote condom usage, the established producers do not want to be liable for any OHSA fine for having an unsafe working environment. Asking hired talent to have bareback sex does create an unsafe working environment in the eyes of the law.
"I choose life, it's not that hard to figure out," said an Atlanta resident named "Chris." "When AIDS first came around in the '80s, it scared us into safe sex. These young cats don't realize how many died, maybe they never lost a friend or family member.
"At 40, I've never had cum in my mouth or ass, and trust me, I've had some hot sex," Chris said. "[Barebacking] seems more visible. I had guys hit me up with ads that say nothing about raw [sex], and after a few e-mails, they let me know that's what they like.". . .
Two of the men who responded recently became HIV-positive, and are disheartened by the behavior they see online.
"One thing I have noticed especially in the last five or six months is that everyone seems to say that they are into safe sex, but when it comes right down to it, they stick it in without wrapping," said "Benson," 38. "Another thing is that almost everyone I have met or come in contact with that is HIV-positive absolutely refuses to use condoms."
Twenty-five-year-old "Michael" recently tested HIV-positive, and now feels obligated to wear condoms during sex, even if he doesn't "feel as though most of my peers feel the same way."
"Even if you are infected, you should still protect yourself from other strands of the virus and other STDs," Michael said. "It's much harder to fight off even curable diseases when you are poz. I think it is important that we have these types of conversations as a community in order to educate ourselves.". . .
Most producers of gay porn responded to the AIDS crisis by voluntarily implementing condom requirements in their videos, but an increasing amount of bareback porn is now available from smaller porn companies and internet amateurs.
At first, the major gay porn companies attempted to ignoretrends arising online and elsewhere in porn, but now amateur and smaller porn companies are "setting the pace for the industry," said J.C. Adams, editor of GayPornTimes.com.
It's been a heated past couple of weeks in the world of gay porn, after a European trade magazine distributed several of its "David awards" to the U.S. porn company Treasure Island Media, which produces bareback films. The decision to honor Treasure Island Media prompted other major American porn producers like Chi Chi LaRue and Bruce Cam to return their David awards in protest. . .
"Flash ahead 15 or 20 years, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a gay man who doesn't know about HIV/AIDS and condoms and safer sex techniques," Adams said. "But when gay porn is in the business of selling fantasy - key word is 'business' here - how much of that fantasy should be sacrificed for a real-world lesson in safer sex?
Straight porno videos never bother to use condoms. I suspect condoms will completely disappear in gay porno videos when the older, more established gay porno producers retire. Producers will probably add fine print legal disclaimers saying that certain precautions were taken to avoid HIV infections despite show the "fantasy" of bareback anal sex. In fact, ethical producers could take steps by doing HIV testing before and after production. Of course, porno stars are often know to be hard-to-find both before and after a shoot.
