Bug Chasers: Rolling Stone - quite disturbing and upsetting

[ouizy]

There is a story in the latest Rolling Stone magazine about men who are "Bug Chasers." It is a term used for gay men who are actively looking to get infected with HIV. It is one of the most disturbing and upsetting articles I have ever read, and my belief is that these men are arrogant and ignorant and are not only harming themselves, but furthering the Pandemic that is HIV/AIDS.

Here is the article:

http://www.rollingstone.com/features/featuregen.asp?pid=1525

 

[elfyx]

How Sad

Carlos agrees and says getting HIV will make safe sex a moot point. "It's about freedom," he says. "What else can happen to us after this? You can fuck whoever you want, fuck as much as you want, and nothing worse can happen to you. Nothing bad can happen after you get HIV."

This was indeed one of the more disturbing articles I've read in a long time. Boy are these men deluding themselves if they honestly believe in the attitude above. I mean, what about other STD's? Or mutating the strain? They act like its a free-pass or something. Also, living on HIV meds is not like popping tylenol - There are serious life-altering side-effects, and it isn't by any means 100% effective.

Also, isn't there court precidence which states that knowingly infecting someone with HIV is manslaughter? Or is that just to someone who isn't aware they're being infected? What about assisted suicide? Is that what this is? Most of these "bug-chasers" are admitting they have depression or some other psychological problem, in addition to the "thrill seeking and eroticism" of become "HIV pozitive".

What a person does is his own business, unless it starts to affect me, my family, and society. How socially callous it is to be knowingly spreading the disease like this. We're having a hard enough time trying to keep it curbed. Fuck, how many people are going to die in Africa of AIDS in the next year? And these people want to contribute to this outbreak? I guess they feel they're only hurting themselves... actually some don't even think that! Well, with that attitude, who's to say these people won't be socially responsible in controlling their own disease?

<end of rant>

 

[sharky]

The number quoted in the story is a little high though -- 25% of reported cases -- because those people who want to get AIDS will willingly be tested to see if they have the virus.

There is a thread about this on velvetrope.com which is pretty interesting. A few things I got from the people there:

-- gay men see other gay men with AIDS who can survive for ten years on drugs and therefore think its not the problem it used to be. unfortunately, the strain of AIDS that is out there now is so mutated because of its adaptation to the drugs that the present supervirus strains are immune to today's drug cocktail. So if you get infected by the supervirus, you have as much of a chance of surviving as you did in 1985 [which is really bad].

-- a problem with this article is that it continues to focus on AIDS as a gay disease. did Magic Johnson not teach us that's a wrong assumption [and likewise, is he not teaching us now that with drugs and money, anyone can survive]? The largest increase in AIDS cases in occuring among women, particularly minority women, who are in heterosexual relationships.

Yeah, this is a sick twisted story but when are people going to focus on who is really at risk instead of sensational stories?

 

[pax]

Yeah, this is a sick twisted story but when are people going to focus on who is really at risk instead of sensational stories?

Well, there are a few problems with this assessment. First of all, the story is about a real problem and it is focusing on people who are really at risk. They might not be the biggest risk group, and it might have been more responsible for Rolling Stone to do an article about how young heterosexual women (like ME--scary) are at the biggest risk for contracting HIV. But, well, I read Rolling Stone, and it's not exactly a paragon of responsible journalism.

Secondly, it is a problem in the gay community that this kind of thing might be happening. But if young, affluent gay men are getting the message that HIV is no longer a "big deal," is it so shocking to assume that maybe young straight men, or young straight women, or young gay women or whoever, are *also* getting this message? This story illustrated a problem that I fear is becoming more, rather than less, widespread: the idea that HIV (and/or the devastating effects thereof) won't or can't "happen to me."

I could go the extra mile and start blaming this on the proliferation of abstinence-only sex ed. in schools that is becoming popular, but I have to go to work soon.

 

[melon]

It's the culmination of desperation and cultural low self-esteem. We have generations being lost to rampant homophobia, and the fact that they are, no matter what, second-class citizens to the people they are supposed to respect and admire in society.

Until we deal with such depression and desperation, we will lose these generations of otherwise great people. I mourn the continual losses constantly...

Melon

 

[Bonochick]

I read that article last night and was just stunned...

 

[joyfulgirl]

It's the culmination of desperation and cultural low self-esteem. We have generations being lost to rampant homophobia, and the fact that they are, no matter what, second-class citizens to the people they are supposed to respect and admire in society.

Until we deal with such depression and desperation, we will lose these generations of otherwise great people. I mourn the continual losses constantly...

Melon

I agree completely. My closest friend has been living with HIV since he was 19 (he's 35 now) and he is extremely healthy. However, he has admitted that when he was 19 and contracted the virus, he was depressed, had low self-esteem, his father who never accepted him had just died, and he was subconsciously trying to kill himself. Today he is a mature, happy person with extraordinarily high self-esteem, but we are fortunate to live in a gay-friendly, progressive town. Not every gay person is fortunate enough to live in a place where they can evolve as people in a community that truly accepts (not just tolerates, but embraces) gays & lesbians. I'm going to talk to him and some other friends about this article tonight.

And please keep this quote from the article in mind:

"The vast majority of the gay community would be just as surprised and appalled by this as anyone else," she says. - GLAAD spokeswoman Cathy Renna

 

[BAW]

I agree completely. My closest friend has been living with HIV since he was 19 (he's 35 now) and he is extremely healthy. However, he has admitted that when he was 19 and contracted the virus, he was depressed, had low self-esteem, his father who never accepted him had just died, and he was subconsciously trying to kill himself. Today he is a mature, happy person with extraordinarily high self-esteem, but we are fortunate to live in a gay-friendly, progressive town. Not every gay person is fortunate enough to live in a place where they can evolve as people the way he has been able to. I'm going to talk to him and some other friends about this article tonight.

And please keep this quote from the article in mind:

"The vast majority of the gay community would be just as surprised and appalled by this as anyone else," she says. - GLAAD spokeswoman Cathy Renna

You took the words right out of my mouth joyfulgirl...someone I love very much has been HIV positive since he was 23 (he's 38 now). Right now he has a huge group of friends and family who love and support him but it wasn't always that way, especially in the months after he tested positive. His sister is also gay so you can imagine the turmoil in his family when they were both trying to come to terms with their sexuality and had to deal with a less than tolerant father.

My friend was infected by his very first male partner, who was very well aware of the fact that he was HIV positive and didn't give a damn and continued having unprotected sex without telling his partners. He died within a few years of my friend finding out and who knows how many other men he knowingly infected?

He (my friend) is now a safe sex advocate and spokesperson for HIV Stops With Me in Orange County...I would also like his opinion on this article.

 

[melon]

If people need a further example of my point, we need not look any further than today's news. Our "compassionate conservative" president has chosen Jerry Thacker, a Pennsylvania marketing consultant who has characterized AIDS as the ?gay plague,? to serve on the Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV and AIDS.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/862509.asp



Oh and guess where Mr. Thacker got his education from? Bob Jones University. I guess Mr. Bush didn't learn his lesson after all?

Melon

 

[nbcrusader]

Jerry Thacker, a Pennsylvania marketing consultant who has characterized AIDS as the ?gay plague,? to serve on the Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV and AIDS.

Ignorant at best, an idiot or outright hateful

 

[hiphop]

...and a fucked up world it is too...

 

[sharky]

I spent four years in college in Missouri while John Ashcroft was senator. The guy is a schmuck. And yet now he controls the ability to steal whatever privacy you have. Its sad that Bush put this gay-basher in a powerful position but sad to say, it doesn't surprise me.

 

[ThatGuy]

The Washington Times has run a story disputing the "Bug Chasers" article:

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20030124-89194739.htm


And it looks like Thacker has withdrawn his name as a nominee, also from the Times:

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20030124-731195.htm

 

[sharky]

msnbc is also running a story disputing the article
http://www.msnbc.com/news/863259.asp

 

[pax]

Salon's Andrew Sullivan, a prominent gay journalist, is also debunking the story:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/sullivan/2003/01/24/rolling/index.html

 

[joyfulgirl]

Good. I was familiar with the phenomenon but the numbers mentioned in the RS article didn't make any sense to me and it is certainly not a hot topic of conversation within the gay community that I know of, which it would be if these numbers were accurate.