OUR MISSION:
EDUCATION and RISK REDUCTION
Actually, we have several missions. Our first and primary mission is to educate gay and bisexual men ~ and what the heck... even straight men ~ about means they can employ to reduce the risk of HIV not only to themselves but to others. These ideas range from finding a monogamous partner, to sero-sorting, and utilizing other means to help manage risk. Through education, we hope that men engaging in sex with other men will learn to make wiser decisions at the start ~ when they should be made ~ so that they can have greater peace of mind during the sex act and afterward.
COMMUNICATION and FEAR REDUCTION
Another goal of ours is to encourage better communication between men and their sex partners. One way we see achieving this goal is by helping to reduce the stigma and anxiety surrounding HIV. What does that mean? Are we trying to downplay the dangers of HIV? Not at all. However, we recognize that men paralyzed by fear of the disease will often react in a hostile or unfriendly manner toward people who have HIV. And HIV+Positive men paralyzed by the fear of discovery and rejection will try to hide their condition, even from their sex partners. All in all, these fears lay the groundwork for a very unfortunate series of events. By opening up the avenues for discussion, we feel we can break down the prejudices that drive HIV-Negative men to hostility, and the fears that drive HIV+Positive men to be dishonest about their HIV.
HIV TESTING
It is estimated that one third of the people who get tested for HIV do not return for their results, and therefore do not know whether they are HIV+Positive or not ~ and consequently whether or not they are infecting other people. For this reason, we have made a commitment of encouraging men to take advantage of the new, quick-result tests that have become available. Our goal is to get more and more men to try these innovative testing methods so they will know their results when they leave the testing site. We believe that once men start feeling more comfortable about HIV testing, they will also feel more secure about practicing sero-sorting, and communicating openly with each other about HIV.
VACCINE RESEARCH
Additionally, we will highlight the various HIV vaccine trials that are being conducted throughout the US and other countries and encourage our audience to volunteer to be a participant in them, as we feel that a workable vaccine is almost more important than a cure at this point. Certainly a cure is a tremendous goal. But the most effective way to stem the rise in new HIV cases is to invent a vaccine that can be administered to the uninfected population. A workable HIV vaccine will take the burden off of the individual to always do the right thing, even when he is drunk or high, or just doesn't feel like being the good boy. A vaccine could have the ability to neutralize any harm that might be caused by an untruth one tells about his POZ status. In other words, a vaccine could keep someone from getting HIV despite himself or his partner, and we see this as a good thing. The founder of this website, Bareback Jack, participated in one of the first such vaccine trials because he recognized the importance of the research. He would like to encourage other concerned individuals to do the same.
ANTI-METH CAMPAIGN
Another serious mission of ours has been one we've been on since 1996: educating the public about the link between crystal meth use and HIV. With more and more study information coming to light to corroborate what we have been saying all along, we know we have been on the right track regarding this drug and its very destructive potential ~ not only to individual users and those close to them, but to the entire gay community as well. It has been a tough fight, but we've stayed with it because we know if we (as a community) can get a handle on this problem, we can regain control of HIV transmissions and bring that number down dramatically.
All in all, these goals are probably not what many of you imagined you'd find on a bareback-oriented website. If that's the case you are probably asking, why are we doing this?
WHY WE ARE DOING THIS:
We know from our own personal experiences that people make the decision to have sex without protection because it feels right. Condoms are inconvenient to use. They aren't always handy. They are not foolproof. They taste bad, and while some companies try flavoring them to taste like various fruits and candies, nobody has yet developed one that tastes like a penis. But the most important factor is subliminal. Condoms go against nature's way. As does abstinence. And no amount of finger-waggin or name calling or social pressure will ever get every single sexually active person on the planet to either wear a condom or practice abstinence. Such a thing would not only defy biology, it would defy logic as well.
Think about this for a moment... Since the dawn of civilization religious leaders have tried unsuccessfully to get people to follow one set of rules, thoughts, and actions, and they have utilized every tactic from basic social pressure to fear-mongering, to murdering in God's name. And even with the best of intentions and promises of salvation, they have continually failed in their mission. Likewise, condoms have been around for hundreds of years (originally in the form of sheep innards until someone found a way to mass produce them from rubber), and still venereal disease is among us. And although heterosexuals have the ability and the social conditioning to marry and start families within the safe confines of that marriage, thousands of children are born each year to single mothers.
With all this in mind, how is it that we can reasonably assume every single sexually capable person in the world will wear a condom each and every time they have intercourse? It is an unreasonable expectation to think that mankind will suddenly change his nature and do collectively what he has never been capable of doing nor willing to do in over three millennia.
Because of this reality, and because we know that hostility aimed at men who bareback can only result in forcing the behavior underground where it will manifest very undesirable consequences, we feel that it is better to try to give barebackers the tools and knowledge they need to make the healthiest choices possible.
For the past two decades, safer sex messages have been limited to two courses of action: wear condoms or abstain from sex. And the other side of that coin has been "or die". Obviously that message hasn't worked, because the messages (and the messengers) weren't working with the people. They were working against us by trying to use half-truths in order to scare us into a specific pattern of behavior. Here, our objective is to work with barebackers as honestly as possible; to say yes, unprotected sex does feel better, but it has its risks and consequences. And there are different risk levels which correlate to the various sexual activities. There's a world of difference between saying "Use condoms or die" and "Having unprotected sex with a partner you can absolutely trust carries minimal risk". The old messages take away one's power to reason. We believe our message returns that power to our audience by laying out the options and encouraging the individual to make an educated choice.
We realize that our content is controversial, and that not all people ~ including those in the medical profession ~ will agree with us on all points. However we do work and communicate with people employed in HIV prevention and counseling, and we ask for their opinions before making our information public. So far, their consensus is that we are doing a very good job. We hope you will agree.
WHAT WE ARE NOT:
One of the biggest fears that people seem to have about us and our presence on the internet is that we are trying to make barebackers out of men who normally practice safer sex. That is not our goal at all. Our aim is to reach those men who have already made a decision to ditch their condoms in order to teach them how to minimize their risk in a maximum risk scenario. We do realize that our presence on the web may cause some men to experiment with bareback sex. It is unavoidable. However we can hope that any individual who might be intrigued by what he reads on this website or on barebackjack.com will take to heart our warnings and our recommendations if he should decide to experiment with barebacking.
And while we engage in frank and direct discussion about gay sex and use mature language and some suggestive illustrations, BarebackHealth.net is not intended to be a porno site. That's what Barebackjack.com is for. We have separated our health info from Barebackjack.com in order to serve a greater number of people who might be offended by blatant pornography.
A WORD ABOUT OUR AFILIATION WITH BAREBACKJACK.COM:
For those of you who aren't familiar with Barebackjack.com's history, the flagship site has always demonstrated a concern for the health of its audience. Not only was Barebackjack.com one of the very first bareback websites on the internet, but it was the first such site to implement Positive (+) and Negaitve (-) icons in its personals section so advertisers could have the ability to be upfront about their HIV status. From the beginning, Jack published information on the dangers of crystal meth addiction. And he was the first bareback webmaster to offer an advice column geared toward healthier behavior. Our commitment to health in the bareback community began early on.
BarebackHealth.net started several years ago as the Health Department on Barebackjack.com. As time went on, the Health Dept. grew and began to take on a following of its own. It was felt that keeping this information on a controversial gayporn website was limiting its potential, and even perhaps turning away the very audience we hoped it would reach. Besides, preaching and porn seem incongruous. So we decided to take the health information off Barebackjack.com and give it its own domain space in the hopes that it could reach even more of the people it is designed for. BarebackHealth.net is still linked to and from Barebackjack.com, and users of Barebackjack will scarcely notice that we've moved it.
However, a new domain means new expenses. We feel this information is important enough that it should be kept free of charge in order that any adult could access it. For this reason, we ask you, our audience, to voluntarily contribute a donation in any dollar amount you wish to help defray the costs associated with the running and maintenance of this site. If you feel that we provide a valuable service to the community, please show your support through your generosity so that we may keep this information online and achieve our goals. To make a donation, please visit our Supporter Page. All donations are made via PayPal. Thank you!
Your donation to BarebackHealth.net will keep this information online.
CLICK HERE to learn more.
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