We fall back onto the bed in a clumsy embrace giggling, as we rip at each other’s clothes. I gasp as his lips tenderly explore me in the dark, pausing at my neck, his breathing deepens. Clutching at the sheets, my anticipation overwhelms me; he whispers in my ear.
“Should we use a condom?”
HUH?!?
“Nah, it’s okay. I’m on the pill.”
“Um, yeah, but I don’t know where you’ve been.”
As he reaches for the drawer, I roll to the side. Moment lost.
With a proposed $10 million national campaign on safe sex and HIV/AIDS prevention, scary statistics and the even greater proof of our own behavior—it’s time to wake up Australia. AIDS is here, in our own country and it’s on the rise.
Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, 6,611 people have died of AIDS-related illnesses in Australia. More concerning still, is that the rate of infection is rising at an alarming rate. In Victoria, there has been a 41% increase in the number of HIV notifications since 1991.
The statistics are there in black and white; even the government is giving this issue attention, so why aren’t we listening?
A survey of more than 1000 women aged between 16 and 25 found that for 63% of young women, the pill is the most trusted form of contraception. Not surprising.
I’m one of those statistics.
“Young people have managed to… deal with their fear of HIV as essentially a gay issue and not necessarily a concern for them,” said Basil Donovan, Professor of Sexual Health at the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research at the University of NSW.
Reality tells a different story.
“It’s naïve and dangerous to continue to describe HIV/AIDS as a gay disease,” explains Bill Whittaker, National President of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, “When we look around the world, HIV is being spread throughout all communities, particularly the heterosexual community in places like South-East Asia, Africa and Latin America.”
But AIDS is only in the third world, right?!?
Jemma Innes*, 20, South Australia, “I only ever see advertising and campaigns about the AIDS epidemic in Africa; this makes it seem like a faraway problem that couldn’t affect me living in such a developed country.”
We should lobby the federal government to ensure the proposed $10 million national advertising campaign on safe sex is approved. Because the truth hurts, but AIDS kills…
Let’s be honest. Some of us DO KNOW the facts but are choosing to ignore them. Condoms can be awkward. Condoms can be embarrassing. Condoms can be mood breakers. But imagine this…
You have been sexually active for the past 12 months with numerous partners. You’ve been having a blast and have assumed everything is hunky dory as you, or your partners, are on the pill. Then, you discover you have HIV.
Feel your world shattering around you. Shocked. Devastated.
Now picture picking up your mobile, scrolling through your address book. You pause, tears rolling down your cheeks. You’re about to call all your previous sexual partners and tell them they need to get tested for HIV.
At this very moment, embarrassment and awkwardness are given a new meaning. No longer do condoms seem so silly.
He pauses, lingering above his bedside drawer. Surprisingly he retreats to the bed empty handed. His naked body rests beside me. He draws on my back with his soft fingers.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers, “That came out wrong. It’s just that I care about you and... Well, I don’t want either of us to do anything we’ll regret.”
I roll to face him, the genuine concern in his eyes comforts me and the seductive shape of his body in the dark excites me once more. This time I reach for the drawer… and what follows… is… well... that’s another story!
* Name has been changed
How do I know this?
AIDS Action Council,
HIV/AIDS statistics,
http://aidsaction.org.au/content/hiv_sti_health/stats.php
Kontominas B 2007, ‘Young Women dice with unsafe sex’,
SMH Online, 13 Febryary,
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/young-women-dice-with-unsafe-sex/2007/02/12/1171128899942.html
Nolan, T 2001, ‘Australia’s AIDS statistics may be on the rise—Transcript’,
PM,
www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s267637.htm
