There are approximately 33.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.

If that number scares you... it should. It should scare you into ensuring that you get an HIV test regularly if you are at risk, and that you and your partner get tested before becoming sexually active. If you are unsure whether or not you are at risk for HIV/AIDS, information on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's website can help. And you can visit HIVTest.org to find a place nearby that can test you. Remember, getting tested for HIV/AIDS is scary and nervewracking, but the earlier the disease is caught the sooner treatment can begin.

In addition to getting tested, you can get active for World AIDS Day. Learn about the harms of abstinence-only education, and how it is a strong cause of high STD and teen pregnancy rates. Also, check out the "Do Something" section on the World AIDS Day website to read about the many things you can do to spread awareness.

But World AIDS Day isn't just about getting tested and being an activist... it is also about supporting our loved ones who may be living with HIV/AIDS. It is important to remember that it is unhelpful and incorrect to dismiss someone living with the disease as careless or ignorant because they contracted it. People get HIV/AIDS for a wide array of complex reasons... and yes, some do contract the disease because of a mistake like not wearing a condom, but that doesn't mean they don't still deserve our support and love.

What are you doing in honor of World AIDS Day?

On October 17th, some friends and I will be participating in the Hudson Valley AIDS Walk. I'm very excited for the walk, and I want to raise as much as possible to help fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic. To my knowledge, I've never known anyone affected by AIDS, which is lucky considering that over one million people in the U.S. are living with it, but it's important to me to help any way I can. If you're in New York, consider participating in the Hudson Valley walk, or maybe search for a walk near you!

If you can, I would really appreciate anyone who can donate a bit to sponsor me. You can visit my fundraising page to donate online with a credit card - it's totally secure. Many thanks to anyone who can give :)

The kind folks over at 15andCounting, an activist site/blog that discusses issues surrounding sex, sexuality, and reproduction, put together a "Feminist Blogs We Love" post. Appetite for Equal Rights made the list! And so did several other wonderful feminist blogs. Check out the list and pay each blog a visit.

And be sure to look over the 15andCounting website - it's a really great campaign. Here's a video with more information on what they do:

There's a new AIDS awareness campaign in Germany, and it's hardcore controversial. Rightfully so.

Put out by the German charity, Regenbogen ("Rainbow"), the campaign tries to compare AIDS to a mass murderer - which, admittedly, it is. But the way they go about this is questionable. The posters designed for the campaign show women having sex with Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and Stalin:




There is also a very disturbing commercial to go along with it (not safe for work).

First of all, the highly pornographic nature of this campaign doesn't sit right with me. Is it necessary to depict sweaty graphic sex with thin gorgeous women to convey a message about AIDS?

Second of all, I agree with Chen of Choice Words: "This comparison of AIDS to Hitler is easily read as a comparison of a person with HIV with Hitler. It stigmatizes and demonizes the person with HIV."

I understand that this ad is meant to compare the disease to a mass murderer, but I think it can be easily misinterpreted to label the people living with HIV/AIDS as the "murderers." As we know, each HIV/AIDS case is unique, so we cannot assume that all people living with the disease are clueless and careless and go around spreading it.

I honestly have to give some props to the creators of this campaign because of its creativity, and I know that their intentions are good, but we don't need any more animosity directed towards people with HIV/AIDS.

Amplify has launched a great campaign to get CVS stores to stop locking their condoms behind glass cases. CVS claims to do this to prevent people from stealing condoms, and incidentally condoms are locked up much more often in communities of color than predominantly white communities.

The study looked at stores in Detroit, Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia, New York City and Miami between September 2007 and January 2008. In some cities, the percentage of CVS stores with locked condoms was more than three times higher in communities of color than in areas that are predominately white.

The cities listed also have some of the highest numbers of AIDS cases in the country.

CVS says they lock up condoms "based on whether shoplifting is to such a degree that they're becoming unavailable for customers to purchase." However, competitors Rite Aid and Walgreens both have policies against locking up condoms.

Be sure to sign Amplify's petition to CVS that asks them to unlock condom cases.

I'M BACK! It's been an exciting week in Vegas, filled with winning money in Blackjack, followed by spending said money on $11 drinks. Definitely a successful vacation, but I'm glad to be back. My body couldn't handle another day in Vegas, and I was tired of being handed flyers for female escorts.

So, to catch up on everything I've been missing, and to help myself get back into the real world, here's a special back-from-Vegas edition of Buffet of the Week:

• Judge Sotomayor has been confirmed in a 68-31 vote! Congratulations to Judge Sotomayor, and let's hope she's as wonderful of a judge as we anticipated.


• A gay man has recently been released from prison after spending 21 years behind bars for sexual attacks on children that he did not commit.


• A new report released shows that women's insurance is more adversely affected by the recession.


• Quakers in the UK have decided to throw all their support behind same-sex marriage.


• Supermodel Gisele, who has announced that she is pregnant, has appeared in an ad campaign sans baby bulge. Why? Advertisers photoshopped it out.


• The Women and Work Commission has found that the wage gap in the UK has been increasing.


• Washington, D.C. schools are planning to offer STD testing to students.


• Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed asks, "Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?"

Anything else?

So much has happened. Some good news, some bad news.

• At the World Outgames, a multi-sport event for LGBT people, small bombs were thrown onto the track at the start of the relay run. Police are holding two suspects. Hopefully they're the assholes that did it, because I want them to pay.


• A Fox News host, Glenn Beck, stated on MSNBC that Obama is a "racist" who has "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture." How these nutjobs get on news channels is beyond me.


• Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) introduced a horrifying amendment to ban all federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Thankfully, it was defeated in the House by a vote of 247 to 183.


• Colin Powell commented on the Gates arrest, stating he's suffered from racial profiling "many times."


• Senator Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY) announced yesterday that a Senate hearing on "don't ask, don't tell" will be held in the fall. Contact your senators now to tell them to do everything they can to eliminate this discriminatory policy!


• Governor Schwarzenegger line-item vetoed close to $52 million in funding to the State Office of AIDS, which would've been used for services such as education, prevention, and testing. Nice.


• File this under: "hypocrisy." A Tennessee senator and abstinence proponent, resigned after admitting having an affair with a 22 year-old intern. Good riddance.

What have you all been reading this week?

Oh, happy day! Obama's budget for the year 2010 has been revealed, and nowhere does it include federal funding for abstinence-only education. Not another tax dollar will go to these failed programs, and instead, Pres. Obama is proposing a new pregnancy prevention initiative. Hopefully, his new program will prove to be effective.

Read the entire budget here.

Ad #1 (click on it to see it enlarged) teaches us that unless we keep our vaginas squeaky clean, no one will ever love us. #2 warns all men that you just never know where she's been!






(Special thanks to Ash for the pics!)

"You can't resolve [the problem of HIV/AIDS] with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem." - Pope Benedict XVI


Major fail. From MayoClinic.com:

By blocking the exchange of body fluids that might contain infectious agents, latex condoms provide the best protection available against STDs. Used consistently and correctly, condoms are highly effective at preventing the transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS, and at reducing the risk of infection from other STDs, such as gonorrhea and chlamydia.

Please don't rely on the Pope as your source of sex education. Use condoms.

Well, I was sincerely hoping that the Obama administration would tell Ambassador Mark Dybul to go away, but a high source has reported that he will remain in his position. Dybul is a strong supporter of abstinence-only education, and believes preaching "purity" until marriage is the best way to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. He also perpetuated restrictions on organizations that help prevent the spread of AIDS amongst sex workers, and is associated with the failed policies of the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief.

Yeah, women's rights advocates and those who work with HIV prevention are not happy that this is man who will continue to "fight" AIDS. They sent countless letters pleading for a change in leadership, but apparently they fell on deaf ears.

A new campaign is utilizing technology to spread the message of safe sex by developing short soap opera-esque videos to send to cell phones. The videos feature sexually active couples who learn about the perils of unprotected sex. The episodes mainly target young Black and Latina women, and aim to normalize condom use.

The pilot video has been put online, and a large study is being conducted to test the response of young women to the video. It is equally the responsibility of the male partner to obtain and use a condom, but I understand their attempts to target women because I think too many sexually active females rely solely on men to provide the condom, and that just isn't a safe bet.

Additionally, the campaign focuses on only heterosexual couples, which I don't particularly like. Safe sex is as important with gay and lesbian couples as it is with male-female couples. It would be cool to encourage talking about safe sex amongst same-sex couples in the Black and Latina communities, since those cultures tend to be prominent in homophobia.

Watch the pilot and decide for yourself. I watched most of it, and was indifferent. It tends to focus more on the "drama" between the couples than how and why to practice safe sex. It also implies that you have to cheat on a significant other to put yourself at risk, when the reality is that someone can experience a pregnancy or contract an STI even when in a fully monogamous relationship.

Thoughts?

Today marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Since its discovery, AIDs has killed over 25 million people. Worldwide, 3.3 million people are living with AIDS today. It's nothing short of an epidemic, but I really have faith that we'll find a cure within a few decades. Still, that leaves plenty of time for plenty of people to be infected. In honor of World AIDS Day, I'm urging you to:


Get tested. Tell your friends to get tested. If you're too embarrassed to ask for an HIV test from your doctor, donate blood - if they find anything wrong, they'll notify you. It's a simple request when you think about what's at stake. But don't stop there. Get involved, donate if you can, and spread awareness. Promote comprehensive sex ed. Visit any one of these sites to take action:

• One Million Tests
• Stop AIDS Project
• The Global Fight
• Aid for Africa
• The Global Fund to Fight AIDS
• The One Campaign
• InSpot.org (send an anonymous e-card to someone you think might have been exposed to an STD)

Check out this video on the New York Times website that investigates the discrimination in Mexico when it comes to fighting HIV/AIDS. GLBT people are treated as if their lives are not as important and worth saving as heterosexual AIDS victims. It's incredibly sad... and infuriating.

Half of all AIDS deaths are occurring in the South, even though this region is only made up of 17 states and holds only 36% of the country's population. It's a disgustingly large number, and it's only rising, while the amount of AIDS cases continues to fall in the North.

There's a few things that this crisis can be attributed to. I'm a huge advocate of comprehensible sex education, and the South just doesn't have it. Too many states are still relying on out-dated textbooks and preaching abstinence to avoid STDs and pregnancies among young people, but those methods just don't work.

Another cause for rising AIDS cases is that the South is not receiving adequate funding. Only 19% of donations made to fighting HIV/AIDS is given to the South. Ironic, considering the fact that the South needs it the most.

Also, many people in the South have not accepted the fact that kids are having sex younger and younger. Parents refuse to believe that their children could be sexually active, and therefore do not get them tested, and do not talk to them about safe sex.

It's an ongoing cycle. For Take Action Tuesday, please try to visit UNAIDS.org to learn more about the AIDS epidemic, and possibly make any donation you can afford. You can also write to your Representatives and urge them to think about the growing AIDS crisis, particularly in the South, and the inadequate funding and education that has caused it.





Full article here.

You gotta love news articles that exist solely to scare the shit out of Americans. Exhibit A: the recent article on CNN about the possible "adverse effects" of the Gardasil HPV vaccination.

The article opens with: "A vaccine designed to prevent cervical cancer is coming under fresh scrutiny amid thousands of complaints linking it to a range of health problems."

The "thousands of complaints" might be eye-catching, but then the article clarifies that these complaints range from "nausea to paralysis - even death." Meaning the majority of these adverse effects are mere nausea or other mild symptoms, which if you ask me, is worth undergoing for the sake of preventing HPV, which causes roughly 70% of cervical cancer cases and 90% of genital warts cases. As far as the deaths go... ten deaths were reported as being "caused" by Gardasil, but the CDC (that's the Center for Disease Control and Prevention) concluded that none of the ten deaths were linked to the vaccine.

One girl reported developing pancreatitis after getting vaccinated, but Merck & Co. (the company that distributes Gardasil) assures that this has not been defined as a cause of the shot, and the girl getting sick could just be a coincidence.

Now, I'm not usually one to cry "conspiracy," but I'm curious as to where this bad publicity for Gardasil is coming from. Is it a coincidence that all these medical concerns are arising when conservative organizations are already opposing Gardasil because it might "cause" young girls to run right out and have unprotected sex? Who knows.

When I first heard about Gardasil, I was skeptical, but once I found out how easily HPV is spread, I was so grateful that someone developed a shot to prevent it. I wish HPV awareness was more prominent, instead of flimsy articles that try to scare parents out of protecting their daughters.

Yahoo News had an article today about how abstinence-only education doesn't work. First of all, can I just say:

NO SHIT!

Ahem. On Wednesday, health groups told Congress that sex education programs that only preach abstinence do not cut down on teen pregnancies or STDs, nor do they cause teenagers to start having sex at an older age.

However, the Bush administration is STILL supporting abstinence-only education (God only knows why), and they voiced that support during a hearing before a House of Representatives panel.

Point: Dr. Margaret Blythe of the American Academy of Pediatrics told the committee: "vast sums of federal monies continue to be directed toward these programs. And, in fact, there is evidence to suggest that some of these programs are even harmful and have negative consequences by not providing adequate information for those teens who do become sexually active."
Counterpoint: Rep. John Duncan, a Tennessee Republican, said that it seems "rather elitist" that people with academic degrees in health think they know better than parents what type of sex education is appropriate. "I don't think it's something we should abandon," he said of abstinence-only funding.

"Elitist"?! People with health degrees have the expertise to decide what is going to protect children, and what isn't. Parents shouldn't be the ones to decide because they have a bias! Of course nearly all parents are going to want their children to wait to have sex, but that isn't realistic. What everyone needs to come to terms with is the fact that abstinence-only education is a great way to leave teenagers completely misinformed, thus causing them to do stupid things, like drinking bleach because they think it can beat HIV, or not using a condom because they have no idea how to use one.

"Charles Keckler of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the Bush administration believes abstinence education programs send the healthiest message."

Yeah, and that's why statistics show that 1 in 4 teenage girls has an STD, and 30% of girls become pregnant before the age of 20. Doesn't sound very healthy to me.

In Arusha (Africa), twenty women attended the ceremony for the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood specifically to turn in their genital mutilation tools. One of them commented:

"We have discovered that practicing female genital mutilation not only risked our daughters' lives through excessive bleeding, but also exposed them to other infectious diseases such as HIV-Aids because a single razor is normally used to operate up to ten girls at a time."

Some are skeptical that because genital mutilation is so widespread, it cannot be ended so simply. I say that twenty women giving up their careers as genital mutilators is a huge step in the right direction. I hope that they'll inspire others to do the same.

Visit here to learn more about the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, as well as learn how to get involved to prevent unwanted pregnancies, complications during childbirth, and unsafe abortions.

For more information on female genital mutilation, visit the FGC Education and Networking Project.

There are so many stories I come across in the news that deserve attention that I can't possibly make individual posts about them all. So, here is a list of small samplings (a buffet, if you will) of recent events and news stories. Follow the links to read more, should something spark your interest. Enjoy and look for more "buffets" in the future.

• Following up with my last post, the Transportation Security Administration responded to Mandi Hamlin's complaint about being forced to remove her nipple rings to board a plane.
• Larry King was a gay eight-grader who was shot in the head because others did not like him wearing makeup and jewelry to school. His murder is prompting gay activists to call for better education about exercising respect and tolerance towards GLBT people.
• Efforts have begun in Zimbabwe to increase female political involvement.
• A frightening statistic: in Nigeria, 61% of new HIV/AIDS infections are found in women.
• Muslim leaders are speaking out against the practice of forced marriage.
• Rikki Rockett, drummer in the band Poison, has been accused of rape.
• In India, a woman was accused of being a "witch" and was consequently tied to a tree and beaten by an angry mob.
• A string of purse snatchings have been underway in California. The offenders are clearly targeting Asian women.
• A new natural form of birth control has emerged that is receiving praise from both women and men.
• Top ten craziest things John McCain has said while you weren't watching.
• Chelsea Clinton states that she believes her mother would make a better president than her father.
• Castro's daughter is promoting the acceptance of gay rights in Cuba.

Feel free to comment with your stories :)

This will most likely ruin your day. But it involves an extremely serious and important issue that we all need to understand. The Democratic Republic of Congo, for those of you who don't know, is currently involved in a civil war that is resulting in the devastation of its people. An unfortunate result of this war is an unstoppable rape crisis. Rebels are using rape as a tactic of war - a way to humiliate their enemies and exceed power over them. Since fighting broke out in 1998, hundreds of thousands of females have been brutally raped, most suffering irrevocable emotional and physical damage. From a terribly shocking article in Guardian Weekly:

Raped at fourteen months old. This isn't a rare occurrence. Every day, the bodies of women and girls are being ravaged. Many are left pregnant, or infected with HIV. Some women are shot in the genitals, resulting in serious damage that very few hospitals are equipped to repair. Some women are raped while pregnant, some are forced to become sex slaves. Several women have watched their family members get shot right in front of them for refusing succumb to the rebels' sexual demands. Moreover, many women refuse to tell anyone that they have been raped because of the negative social stigma surrounding it.

It's an appalling situation. I'm currently sponsoring a woman in the Republic of Congo through Women for Women International. Her name is Lucie, she's 18-years-old and has four children depending on her. She can't afford to send her children to school, and her home has no electricity or running water. The hardships these women undergo are endless. If you want to help, please visit Women for Women to look into donating money or sponsoring a woman in a war-devastated country. You can also visit the International Rescue Committee website to learn more about the situation in Congo, as well as find out ways you can help. Please do what you can.