lust news
AIDS world: The Yankee Plague
While Americans have persuaded themselves that AIDS
is a gay disease, other nations are characterizing
AIDS as an American disease.
B Y
W
C.
M c R A E
n Japan, the death of the first Japanese
woman from AIDS has sent that
country into panic. Prostitution is
tolerated in Japanese culture. However,
the woman who died was a prostitute liv
ing near an American army base, accord
ing to the New York Times. Homosexuality
is also accepted in Japan, but the blame for
bringing AIDS to the island nation is being
laid to American servicemen. After her
death, the woman was pilloried in the
Japanese press as getting what she deserved
for having dealings with foreign men.
Likewise, AIDS in the Philippines has
been characterized as an American disease
introduced by servicemen. China also sees
the disease as a purely Western phenome
non, and the Chinese government is now
requiring all foreign students, as well as
returning Chinese students, to submit to
HIV tests.
South Korea, gearing up for the 1988
Olympics, is requiring HIV antibody tests
of all restaurant and entertainment work
I
ers. The testing will begin in those areas
frequented by US troops.
In Italy, safe sex is providing politicians
with another opportunity to thumb their
noses at the Pope. The Italian Defense
Ministry is issuing condoms to members
of the Italian Armed Forces in order to
prevent the spread of AIDS. The decision
is contrary to positions held by leading
factions of the Italian government and of
the Catholic Church, and is seen as a snub
to both.
Last month, the Christian Democrat
health minister said, “ Anyone who catches
AIDS now has gone out of his way to get
it.” The defense minister is prepared to
face the criticism, according to the London
Times. In the same week, a Catholic offi
cial, and personal friend of Pope John-Paul
II, wrote that AIDS would have a benefi
cial effect on society by making people
more chaste.
In England, where homes of gay men
have been fire bombed recently, the gov
ernment announced plans to. require HIV
tests of all immigrants.
•
Sexual practices
and risk of AIDS
exposure
infection, contradictory evaluations of
“ fisting” are available.
The study was conducted during the
period from June, 1984 until January 1985
using a cohort of 1034 single men 25 to 54
years of age by the San Francisco Men’s
Study, and appear« in the January 16,
he Journal of the American Medical Health
1987 issue of the lournal of the American
Association recently published a
Medical
Association. The participants
study concerning the correlation
were
taken
from the 19 census tracts of San
between certain sexual practices and the Francisco where
risk of exposure to the virus that causes been most intense. the AIDS epidemic has
AIDS. In layman’s terms, if you
The report noted that even before the
continue to be the passive partner in
findings of this particular study, extensive
anal sex without using the minimal protec efforts
had already been made in San Fran
tion of condoms, you can die.
cisco to encourage homosexual/bisexual
Another important finding in the data
to limit the numbers of their sexual
obtained from the study is that it shows “ a men
partners
and the practice of unprotected
strong positive association between num anal/gential
contact. There is evidence that
bers of male sexual partners and sero-
these
efforts
resulted in substantial changes
positivity (exposure to the virus).” Hope in sexual practices
homosexual/
fully, this is already known to many men in bisexual men and a among
reduction in other sex
the community.
ually
transmitted
diseases.
•
By comparing two groups of men, one
— Michael S. Reed
group having had no anal/genital contact
for two years previous to the study and the
other group having practiced various pat
terns of anal/genital contact during the two
years previous to the study, it was deter
mined that “ those practicing receptive
(anal/genital) contact, whether exclusively
or combined with insertive contact, the
adjusted relative risks (of exposure) were
A complete line
significantly elevated.”
of bath, beauty
Of the four types of rectal
trauma studied, only douche or enema
and skin care
before sexual contact contributed to the
products.
risk of infection by receptive anal/genital
contact. This finding is consistent with ob
servations made in a similar study of 1980
Yamhill Market Place
concerning the association between
and 5th St. Public Market, Eugene
douching and Hepatitis B infection. Al
though this study did not show a direct
correlation between “ fisting” and risk of
T
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