Today is World AIDS Day.
I really don’t know a world without HIV/AIDS.
News of a mystery “gay” disease was already spreading before I was 10 years old. There was a bizarre game at my elementary school where if someone bent over, you could sneak up behind them, hump their ass a bit and then say “AIDS!” Seriously, it might have even been called AIDS tag.
We really had no clue what the hell we were doing.
When myself and my peers started considering (craving, desiring, begging for) sex, condoms weren’t just a measure to prevent pregnancy. Surely there is still stigma out there and there are obviously PLENTY of people who do not use condoms, but as far as social campaigns go, I think the “use a condom” message was more successful than, say, the “this is your brain on drugs” endeavour.
That said, as someone who has grown up in a world of HIV/AIDS, someone who works in sex media, I thought it a good exercise to take this quiz. And I was disappointed in myself.
And I only got 8 out of 12.
Some things have changed for people with HIV/AIDS. Some things remain the same.
Take time today to reflect on what these acronyms mean to you, your family, your community and the world.
Remeber that there is still so much to learn, to understand and to appreciate.
