Butt First

by Mark H
Fri, 10/31/2008 - 10:20am

Last week, as I sat through a day and a half of CDC-sponsored expert consultation on anti-HIV therapy and transmission risk, listening to data on things like the biology of sexual transmission, pharmacology in the genital tract, viral loads and semen, and viral loads and vaginal secretions, the butt-cheeks of bias were spread before me and the gaping hole of neglect revealed.

It’s not like I didn’t know this already. I subscribe and contribute to lifelube.org, I’m a member of the International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA), and I’m an active member of CHAMP’s Prevention Research Advocacy Working Group (PRAWG). But frankly my ass is chapped. Hearing one presenter casually refer to anal intercourse as having a twenty-fold higher transmission risk than vaginal intercourse and others repeatedly quip that there is little or no corresponding data regarding rectal / anal anything, I had a barely resistible urge to bend over and moon the podium, screaming.

It’s laughable (but not really). It’s ridiculous. It’s unconscionable and it’s criminal. 55 years after the Kinsey reports, nearly three decades into the AIDS pandemic, we are still grasping for reliable data about concepts as fundamental as rates of anal sex in heterosexual populations. As far as we’ve come, as much as we’ve spent, our knowledge of the rectum and anal sex is still inferior to that of the penis or vagina and what fundamentalists consider normal sex.

Given that, wouldn’t the rational, logical thing to do be to invert priorities until that knowledge is equalized? What would it take to turn this around? I don’t know. For now, rational thinking and logic are up shit’s creek. I’m grateful that there are talented individuals all over the globe who care and who are doing right things. I’m thankful for the scientists that have made this a priority. But methinks it’s the right time for some intentioned misbehavior. This week, I’m fantasizing about a massive demonstration at the next major research conference.

We could start by entering the opening plenary en masse, backwards - butt first (chaps owners to the front of the line!) - settling our tushes into reversed chairs to observe the proceedings through hand mirrors. How’s that as an apt metaphor for the way an imbalanced and incomplete scientific agenda has hobbled real understanding of HIV transmission and hindered real progress towards effective prevention?

I’m daydreaming of picketers carrying signs proclaiming, “Butt First!” I’m imagining whoopee cushions in every banquet chair, visualizing all of our global allies dressed in t-shirts, buttons and hats plastered with images of asses and anuses, hearing audiences making farting sounds instead of clapping. I can see between-sessions hallways populated with folks flashing those fake booties you see at Mardi Gras and I can picture a huge inflatable ass parked outside of the entrance of the host hotel.

Maybe it can never happen. It’s probably not strategically correct. Someone smarter than I should choose the optimum time and place. But it should happen and soon. In the mean time, I know I’ll be joining the global ranks of activists who ask every time transmission is discussed: “What do we know about the rectal transmission?…what do we know about the rectal compartment? …and why the hell not?!?!”

Mark Hubbard chairs the Tennessee Association of People With AIDS and is a member of CHAMP’s Prevention Research Advocacy Working Group and its Research Infrastructure Subcommittee. He has the utmost respect for the scientists who presented last week, but wishes more of their hands were untied. Get out and VOTE!!!

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So, I was thinking... which is dangerous but ultimately good

Submitted by Aaron Phoenix (not verified) on Sat, 11/01/2008 - 10:32pm.

I live in Bloomington, Indiana. You might of heard of it considering the Kinsey citation... The Institute is still here and so is the Museum. Often there are little posters asking for participation of members in the "gay community" to be profiled for research in one field or another through the University. NOW, HIV is a tricky thing out here. Not alot of people are honest about it. Even the most beautiful of fellas are frightened by the stark, angry, alienating stigmas that still surround the virus in the Midwest. SO, I am unsure about approach but the institution is set up for Maidenheading a study on the growing HIV population in B-town. Yes, I did, regretfully, say growing. I am currently questioning my own status after exposing myself to HIV 2 months ago. Ironically (and gratefully), I am an avid volunteer with CAAG and Positive Link. Both are in support of people of all orientations who are living with HIV and AIDS. I am certain that with a little brainstorming we can address your points proactively and perhaps still squeeze in an opportunity to show our ass. :) Check out the profile. Enjoy the blogs on the olde tome The Faggots and Their Freinds Between Revolutions... and then lets start one of our own.

Okay, 1 more>Posted in great Love for the Purpose of Inspiration

Submitted by Aaron Phoenix (not verified) on Sun, 11/02/2008 - 12:50am.

The Light by Mirah What's the use of holding out A work sore hand to catch some rain It turns up empty, all is dry And all you ever wanted was some rain Was some rain If heaven is the future Why is it that that you refuse to go There now with all you have You really should do more than just complain Just complain Such a rotten taste Is left when you don't think to say that It's just such a sorry waste To take the easy way out of the pain Of the pain When the end shines from the deep And all the hate and all the hell that history has released Would tremble before your valor if you'd Just get down on your knees And promise to all your children true That you will live in peace Where's the light to shine on me Oh, send me something, send me please Cleanse my body, close my eyes I'm naked and prepared to die In the starry atmosphere When all the questions disappear And pressure with a salty taste Exalts the tears that soak your face

Thanks for Science

Submitted by Byron E. Montgomery (not verified) on Fri, 11/07/2008 - 2:24pm.

I am an HIV positive advocate living in Dallas. It struck a nerve when you talked about the lack of scientific or experiment driven transmission or vector studies for HIV. Along the pathway to today I have met research physicians who support the position of de-stigmatizing transmission risk in certain cases, such as HIV in saliva and yes even non-traumatic anal sex. The key here is size (both that of the anus and that of the penis) and how that can cause micro tearing which is then a vector. But vaginal secretions and male siminal fluid when mixed (intercourse) is the prime vector and it far outweighs all others. With this in mind prevention directions can be modified to focus on this one true HIV vector. I'm not advocating losing condoms in any sexual situation, but your article did not give any transmission rates either. Is that because of a lack of data on penile/anal HIV transmission, I'm sure that is part of the answer. I will be looking forward to your progress in this light. We were recently asked to determine the actual efficacy of persuing a case here in Dallas of a man spitting on a police officer and then taunting him that he had been infected with HIV. This escalated to a DA office here pursuing an extended sentence based on the intent to harm with a deadly weapon - but saliva is not - so as the article said, that message must be passed. I was surprised that POZ ran the story as if the determination (to be made from that court transcript) had already been done by POZ. Are the people at CHAMP aware that the transcript had been recieved by anyone helping with this - I was not aware of that. The point is, I would like to help in anyway I can to pursue justice in HIV driven by real science and pointed credentialed experiments that can then be journlized in formal medical journals, giving guidance and restrictive powers to Federal Justice all the way to the Supreme Court level. Be sure and let us know here in Dallas if the scientific community makes any more progress de-stigmatizing these infinitessimal vectors to the place they belong, the bottom of the list of things to worry about in the struggle to end HIV. Remember Caleb Glover. After the fact of his ejection from the pool, the owners claim that an extensive search for vector information (in particular in a pool full of chlorine water) was not available - and it's not! Doctors who helped us in that event firmly stated (even in writing) that this was not a viable vector. Since then that research physician and I brought up the subject again. At Life Walk 07 he told me that he would like to see kissing an HIV infected person and even fallatio from an HIV infected person both be taken off the list as vectors. We agreed that peer reviewed formal experiments by credentialed researchers was needed. Such research must first be fuinded and the funding choices (of the Federal grant making entities for instance) would seem to me a better door to be knocking on, prior to this conference you are talking about, because they will ask if we have approached the scientific community for a formal statement or to set up and apply for a grant to fund an experiment or set of experiments regarding the essential non-vector nature of most of these stigmatized sexual and non-sexual events. Again, good luck in what you are trying to do! Byron E. Montgomery HIV justice advocate and on the ground correspondent with inmate Willie Campbell who was sentenced to 35 years in Texas for spitting on an officer.

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About the HIV PJA

The HIV Prevention Justice Alliance (HIV PJA) is a network of organizations advocating for effective and just HIV prevention policies for the United States. We grew out of the successful 2007 Prevention Justice Mobilization, which united hundreds of groups across the country at the intersection of HIV/AIDS, human rights, and struggles for social, racial, gender, and economic justice.

The HIV PJA is coordinated by Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP) in collaboration with AIDS Foundation of Chicago, and SisterLove.