Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, PART II

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I certainly don't define it by political or theological stance (and doing so would make the "homophobes are closet gays") narrative even more absurd. It be easier to say '"A" is homophobic, but "B" is not,' but I suppose I would tentatively define it as "someone who experiences without chagrin a significant negative emotional response to gay people, or someone who devalues them."

[The Gaffer]

It seems that there's broad agreement, on this thread anyway, that much homophobia is caused by self-hatred or a projection of it.

We might debate the mechanisms of course.

Maybe the study is picking up a few closet gays, although you would expect these outliers to show up clearly in the data.

For me the problem is that males are essentially omnisexual - including bisexual and autosexual - and will shove it pretty much anywhere* if left on their own with it for long enough. Clearly, preferences form, but there is an essential fluidity there. This fact dissonates very strongly for people who adopt conformist opinions about sexuality. They repress themselves, and, in order to maintain their self-esteem and validate their choice, they form negative opinions about those who choose not to repress themselves.

So in that respect, you could say that "out" gays, experiencing prejudice, are paying the price of other people's self-repression.

Re: the study, I think they recruited people first and measured their attitudes to gayness using a questionnaire.

Those with the more anti-gay views in the questionnaire were the ones who had more sexualy response to the scud pictures.

Re: recruitment, I imagine "Hey, do you want 100 bucks to watch some porn?" might have worked..

* OK, so maybe not anywhere.

[The Gaffer]

More recently, it seems that legalising gay marriage might have health benefits.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16203621

It's no surprise that people who are treated as second class citizens tend to have low self esteem, which in turn makes them more likely to take risks.

"Whether this is drugs, alcohol abuse, or unsafe sex, treating gay men unequally has lasting repercussions for their health.

The research was publised in the American Journal of Public Health. I was wondering what sort of coverage it got over there.

[The Gaffer]

Nothing? I bet this got a bit more coverage, though:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16297406

[GrayMouser]

Yeah, it did- I must admit to wondering if the raffle was rigged though- I think the Navy would rather have a picture of two pretty lesbians than a fat and hairy bosun's mate....

[The Gaffer]

Hehe, can't imagine why.

I thought it was touching and lovely.

[Insidious Rex]

I dont understand what the appeal is to enter the raffle (especially when people routinely spend over $50?!). Are you not allowed to kiss your significant other unless you win? Is it all just about show? Do they get anything other than the "right" to kiss first?

[inked]

JUNE 27 GET TESTED FOR HIV DAY

For the recommendations, see here: http://www.cdc.gov/Features/HIVtesting/ :

“Too many people don’t know they have HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). More than 1 million people are living with HIV in the United States, but 1 in 5 don’t know they are infected.”

That means that 80% of them do know.

“CDC recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine health care. An HIV test is recommended once a year for people at increased risk—such as gay and bisexual men, injection drug users, or people with multiple sex partners. Sexually active gay and bisexual men may benefit from more frequent testing (e.g., every 3 to 6 months). CDC also recommends that pregnant women get tested early in their pregnancy so they can take steps to prevent passing HIV to their babies.”

That means that there is a presumption of non-infection from one negative test between the ages of 13 and 64 IF you don’t engage in the following behaviors. Routine OB care involves testing each PGcy per the American College of OB/GYN.

“If you don’t have HIV (if you test negative), take steps to stay negative. Remember that if you have unprotected sex or share needles for drug use after your test, you need to get tested again to ensure you are still HIV-negative. Your HIV test result “expires” every time you have risky sex or share needles.”

Otherwise, the CDC reports the incidence statistics here: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/survei.../incidence.htm . Overall, CDC’s new incidence estimates continue to show that:

“Gay and bisexual men remain the population most heavily affected by HIV in the United States. CDC estimates MSM represent approximately 2% of the US population, but accounted for more than 50% of all new HIV infections annually from 2006 to 2009 –56% in 2006 (27,000), 58% in 2007 (32,300), 56% in 2008 (26,900) and 61% (29,300) in 2009.”
“African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos are the racial/ethnic groups most affected by HIV. African Americans represent approximately 14% of the US population, but accounted for 44% (21,200) of all new HIV infections in 2009. Hispanic/Latinos represent approximately 16% of the total US population, but acounted for 20% (9,400) of all new HIV infections in 2009.
“Overall, in 2009, African American men had the highest rate of new HIV infections (103.9 new infections per 100,000 persons), followed by Hispanic/Latino men (39.9 per 100,000), and African American women (39.7 per 100,000).”

By the by, the cost of an HIV screening test is about $123.50 at my midwest hospital. A positive requires confirmation at a cost of $213.40. A positive screening test MUST be confirmed by the second test because false positive screens do occur in patients with no known risk factors.

The CDC’s overview of HIV can be found here: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/survei...e-overview.htm

[inked]

http://news.yahoo.com/key-high-risk-...070344788.html

That's the World Health Organization.

[The last sane person]

Heh. It would appear this 'debate', ham fisted, lopsided and circular as it ever was, has finally had a sock stuffed in it. Good riddance, I say!

[Butterbeer]

@ The Last Sane Person
not really read the 'debate', but i have a feeling 'ham fisted', 'lopsided' and 'circular' might be right... to put it very politely
Likely best i don't read back, as i suspect i wouldn't use quite such polite phrases

[The last sane person]

Holy crap! It's been a long time since I've seen you, BB! I dimly remember that I posted in this thread a few times, but swiftly got bored of it. I agree; no point in reading back; now, stop in to the teacup for a pint. It's a bit dusty, but I've cleaned my old seats by the pantry off.