A NUMBER 1 PRIORITY
Here and there on this site you will find references to "containment", or "viral containment". Containment describes the intentional act of preventing HIV from being spread to HIV-Negative individuals. For the past two decades, containment has been mandated to include condoms as the best (and sometimes the only) method of virus containment. However, barebackers don't use condoms, so other forms of containment must come into play.
New information has made it no longer true that a negative top fucking a positive bottom is at minor risk. Recent studies have demostrated that rectal secretions are much more charged with HIV in infected men, than are either blood or semen. This means that HIV-Negative tops are at a much greater risk of contracting the virus than was believed before, even if they perform exclusively as tops. Furthermore, tops with foreskin have an even greater risk of contracting HIV because of certain cells in their foreskin that allow the HIV virus to attach. Thus, containment has become an imperative for HIV-Negative men, and in fact all barebackers, to begin practicing more than ever.
HOW DO WE ACHIEVE CONTAINMENT?
1: The first step that barebackers can take towards containment is that of honest HIV disclosure. HIV+Positive individuals have a responsibility to tell every single partner of their POZ status. But HIV-Negative persons also have an obligation to ask their potential fuckmates of their HIV status. Ultimately, the final burden has historically fallen on the bottom, or receiver, since each of us is responsible for what we allow into our bodies. For this reason, honest disclosure helps each partner in a sexual engagement make the wisest decision for himself.
There are often situations where honesty is unlikely to come into play. These include encounters in bath houses and sex clubs, video arcades, parks, beaches, and any place where sexual tension is high and serious discussion has the potential of killing the mood or worse, losing a conquest. It is also unlikely that men who are partying will be forthcoming with HIV information if they feel their honesty will lose them the opportunity to fuck with you. With the new revelation that an HIV+Positive man's ass juices could pose a greater threat to your health than his semen, raw topmen may wish to rethink the idea of screwing pnp bottoms whose HIV status is unknown, POZ, or subject to distrust.
2: The next step towards containment is to engage in unprotected sexual activity only with someone else of the same HIV-status. If you're negative and he's positive, you should both agree to let the idea of breeding each other fall by the wayside. Containment only works when HIV-Negative men play exclusively with other HIV-Negative men, and HIV+Positive men limit their sexual encounters to other HIV+Positive men only. This practice, of intentionally selecting people who are of the same HIV status, is called "sero-sorting".
A trend toward sero-sorting has been occurring in and of itself throughout the gay community, not just among barebackers, but with a great number of HIV+Positive men who have taken it upon themselves to help contain the virus. This is good, because HIV containment must become our Number 1 priority, even over getting laid, if we are to ever bring AIDS to a close. It is recommended that all
barebackers practice sero-sorting as our alternative to wearing condoms.
3: The third step toward containmnet is regular HIV and STD testing. By testing ourselves regularly at specific intervals, we can find out early if our HIV status has changed, and we can then sero-sort appropriately. Also, it is recommended that each of us takes the full battery of STD tests each time we get tested. Other STD's can open the door to multiple infections, including HIV infection. Some STD's are known to "piggyback" or show up in tandem. Chlamydia is one such STD. If you have syphilis you probably also have chlamydia. Sores caused by syphilis or herpes can also be gateways for HIV and other STD's to enter the body. Testing for everything at once will help close avenues to other problems should anything unwanted be present.
4: Finally, the last step toward containment is that of communication. If you should find out that you have become HIV+Positive, you then have the responsibility to inform everyone you had unprotected sex with over the course of several months (I'd say 6 is a good figure) that you have converted.
Okay. So that isn't always possible, especially if you have enjoyed a rather busy sexual lifestyle (in other words, if you're a bareback slut). Do the best you can. There are many ways you can reach the people you need to reach, but I would try to avoid carrying on a discussion as important as the "I just found out I'm POZ" conversation via email or Instant Messenger, or even inside a bar or club. The best method is the most personal: talk in private, either face to face, or by phone at worst. Your best ally is going to be your health care professional who tests you. They generally have the ability to counsel you on how best to approach disclosing to others.
Regardless of whichever means you use, keep in mind that divulging your HIV status to previous partners is one of the crucial aspects of containment. The more informed we all are, the easier containment will be to make a reality. And I believe containment is achievable.
The saying, "If you're man enough to make a baby, you'd better be man enough to raise a baby" fits us as well. If you're man enough to fuck without protection, you had better be man enough to do what's required if your HIV status changes.
BARE ESSENTIALS:
Additionally, there are some reminders and pointers that I want to share with you on the subject of partnering.
1: A good number of barebackers have said that the main reason they fuck bareback is because they don't like wearing condoms. OK. We're all about that around here. So if that's true and it's strictly a matter of comfort and convenience, what excuse do you have to not sero-sort?
2: If you are negative, no man, no matter how hot, is worth fucking bare if he is POZ. My apologies to the POZ guys, but hey... read on:
3: There is no shortage of very hot looking men with HIV. If you are POZ, you have quite a selection of great men who are POZ like you. There really is no reason to try to entice HIV-Negative men into bed with you.
4: Even if you were lied to or betrayed, and that's how you became POZ, that is no reason to betray someone else. Give HIV-Negative people the consideration that you were denied. It makes you a better person that the schmuck who didn't tell you.
5: Above all, if you don't trust someone ~ if the things he says don't add up properly, or if he gives you any reason to distrust/disbelieve him, you have the power and the right to turn him down for raw sex. Never ever take a load up the ass from someone you don't trust.
Containment is achievable, at least within the gay community. This community has achieved remarkable things since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, and we can continue that trend. For the bulk of our gay brethren, containment will be performed by way of condom use. For us barebackers, it must be done by being selective about who we fuck. That isn't so hard, is it?
More About Sero-Sorting
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