Huston R; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 1996 Jul 7-12; 11: 465 (abstract no. Pub.C.1173).
Womens Wellness Fund, PA, USA. Fax: 215-862-6858.
Issue: To supplement safer sex messages that are rapidly becoming obsolete with a frank, and comprehensive discussion about sexuality and sexual healing. Project: As a regular sex columnist for POZ magazine and a women living with HIV, I have been asked on many occasions to address the formally taboo coupling of HIV and sexuality. My current work focuses on explicit, open discussions pertaining to sexuality as a way of enhancing HIV prevention education messages. Results: Participants in my workshops and lectures report a greater comfort and knowledge around sexuality, as well as greater compassion and understanding of a variety of issues related to HIV. It is my hope that such increased awareness and comfort lead to a decrease in risk among people with whom I have worked, among them priests, octogenarians, teenagers, and IRS staff. Lesson learned: It is essential that we get beyond just talking about condoms or abstinence when it comes to safer sex. We need to discuss our discomfort with talking about sex, low self-esteem, poor body image, depression and faulty information about sex and HIV. We need to understand that safer is better than unsafe and that a hierarchy of safety is preferable as a prevention message than any conception of absolute safeness.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- Adolescent
- Aged
- Condoms
- Female
- HIV Infections
- HIV Seropositivity
- Humans
- Knowledge
- Safe Sex
- Sexual Behavior
- Sexuality
- education
Other ID:
UI: 102221519
From Meeting Abstracts