World AIDS day: a SOFT reflection

[subversion]

time to reflect on how we feel about AIDS...

it seems that ignorance has made us a lesser human when it comes to AIDS awareness. dying victims are shunned & left to die lonely. unfounded fear (don't touch him, he has AIDS!!) makes us a prejudiced animal despite the education.

should we empathize with the homos who got it?

 

[soft]

Honestly, I have not encounter AIDS patient, at least not to my knowledge. I do not know how I will actually react but I will try my best.

 

[subversion]

good to know you will try...

 

[visa]

I know a girl with Aids, and she's a healthy, cheerful person just like anybody else. Let's not be prejudiced. We're all human.

 

[biopromax]

The show at fort canning just now was super informative!

AIDS can only be spread thru blood. Unprotected Sex and suchs!

So just be normal with them. Give them hope and love. And make them happy always.

 

[subversion]

adults contracting AIDS are largely the result of their doing (yes, there are instances of unforseen circumstances), but the kids who contracted this disease are largely the results of other people's doing. sad.

 

[Cheez]

adults contracting AIDS are largely the result of their doing (yes, there are instances of unforseen circumstances)

I've patients who contracted HIV from their husbands. Husbands had a fling - brought HIV back home to wives - wife pass on to babies. Many women (especially in developing countries) sadly get HIV this way, resulting what we call a "feminisation" of AIDS.

Irrespective of how people got HIV/AIDS, the most important thing is whether we care for them or stigmatize them. There was a young lady who spoke about her experience with living with AIDS in a conference. People were wondering how she got AIDS - her sleeping around, got it from husband etc. She told the people, "I'm sure you are all wondering how I got it. But does it really matter how I got it? So I'm not going to tell you how I got it." And she left it there and continued to share. That taught me something - sometimes we tend to pass judgment very quickly on people, whether it's people with HIV/AIDS or anything else, and many times wrong judgment was given.

I still have very strong stand against high-risk behaviors of any sorts. But many times it's not easy to separate actions from the people themselves. We don't condone the actions, but we still need to accept them as people. This is something we should try to strive for.

 

[dir]

homos don't need your empathy i'm sure, but homophobia spreads quickly and with more fire than ignorance. At least we're not in Somalia where they think the cure to aids is raping virgins.

 

[THOA]

I confess to being a homophobic before. Not so bad as to be hostile but enough to make things a little awkward between myself and the other party.

But after working in a few productions (film/video line), where some of the crew members are homosexual, I learn to basically rid of my own personal discrimination against them. It's not completely gone, but has gone down a significant degree.

Watching Ellen's show helps too, heh.

But somehow it seems that society in general tend to accept sexuality between females more than between males, which I think is rather unfair.

 

[visa]

But somehow it seems that society in general tend to accept sexuality between females more than between males, which I think is rather unfair.

This has to do with modern gender identity and the stereotypes of what is masculine and feminine.

It hasn't always been this way, and isn't this way everywhere either. During the Roman and Greek times, I believe, love between men was seen as something purer than that between men and women.
(Think of the rather romantic friendship between Antonio and Bassanio in Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice!)

There is a tribe in Papa New Guinea (did I spell that right?) where young boys fellate older men and injest their sperm as part of a cultural practice that considers it a sort of "passing on" of manliness.

In modern society, women are stereotyped to be the more emotionally attuned and needy. Men, on the other hand, aren't supposed to cry or talk about their emotions. Straight girls can hug and hold hands anytime they want and nobody would bat an eyelid- but what would you think if you heard a straight guy telling another man "Dude, I'm having a bad day, I need a hug"?

Ask yourself, if you think "ew?!"- why do you think that way? It's because you've been conditioned to, through society's constant bombardment of specifics about what masculinity is.

I think that's why gay men have it harder (no pun intended) than lesbian women. It's far easier for us to accept a "masculine" woman than a "feminine" man.

 

[subversion]

homos don't need your empathy i'm sure,...

of course they don't. homos with AIDS?

 

[subversion]

So I'm not going to tell you how I got it." And she left it there and continued to share.

if you were asked, it's courteous to reply, otherwise it's a sign of apprehension & fear. we are not all judgmental. if you are willing to share, we reciprocate by respecting.

 

[Cheez]

That was not her point. Her point is we treat people differently depending on how they get the disease. This is natural. You sympathise more with the wife who gets it from her husband than somebody who goes around sleeping with prostitutes 3 times a week AND then give it to her wife. And many times, we don't have that info and we start to look on the outside and judge through filtered lens. "This woman dresses this way - must have got AIDS because of prosmiscuity. Serves her right."

Worse if somebody offer this kind of info. Judgment level goes straight up. I see them often and knows many of them. And I struggle many times myself. When a prostitute gets HIV, my filtered lens come into play. Only to find out that prostitute may have been either forced into prostutition, or became a prostutite to feed her starving children.

There's no easy answer.

 

[widdly]

of course they don't. homos with AIDS?

My god, you sound like a real d1ckhead. I hope one of your family or friends comes out of the closet so you get the chance to develop some humanity.


Read today's Straights Times, 50% of AIDS infections in Singapore is through heterosexual intercourse.

 

[subversion]

You sympathise more with the wife who gets it from her husband than somebody who goes around sleeping with prostitutes 3 times a week AND then give it to her wife.

we are better off empathizing after seeing the bigger picture (regardless of how hedonistic it might be) but sadly, this isn't the practice at large. despite being educated, people are still more ready to condemn.

when we deal with the dying, whatever that had lead to it should be reflected upon, not used as a basis for punishment.

 

[subversion]

My god, you sound like a real d1ckhead. I hope one of your family or friends comes out of the closet so you get the chance to develop some humanity.


Read today's Straights Times, 50% of AIDS infections in Singapore is through heterosexual intercourse.

maybe you don't understand what i'm trying to relay here: we should attempt to empathize with people who are dying, regardless of who they are. what Straights Times?

Reminder: name calling, ill remarks, are the stuff that get you banned.

 

[widdly]

maybe you don't understand what i'm trying to relay here: we should attempt to empathize with people who are dying, regardless of who they are. what Straights Times?

Reminder: name calling, ill remarks, are the stuff that get you banned.

Fair enough. It's just you keep on using the phrase 'homo' and asking if they should get empathy....like you are trying to stir up some kind of gay hate. Your comments appear to be either flame baiting or just prejudice.

Straights Times was a play on words given the discussions context. I was of course referring to the local newspaper the Straits Times

 

[subversion]

gay hate or any kind of centralized hatred would be the last thing i'd do here. one of the people i respect on grounds of individual capacity is Freddie Mercury (RIP). we know too well what he died of & the lifestyle he embraced...

i'm aware it's a pun intended. it'd be different if i end off that sentence with a smiley or two, yes? sometimes i forget to remind myself, the words laid out here are devoid of emotions, people don't know you meant it a certain way with no ill-intentions.

 

[widdly]

yes that's true. i like to think of other posters as robots.

Freddies great but I'm not so sure about this guy though...

 

[widdly]

ooopss forgot the ........