TW: How did you survive?

[Rudynate]

Me????

Bottom shaming?????  Nah.  Colorful, yes.  Judgemental, no.   I often refer to myself as liking to take it in the ass (colorful).   maybe lay off the manhattans before you post. 

[Rudynate]

23 hours ago, Rudynate said:

I made it through with a combination of dumb luck and learning to live with safe sex.  When the first cases started to appear on either coast, I was living in Denver and it was common for people there to say "Oh, we'll never have to worry about that here."  As someone with a biology degree and a healthcare background, I suspected it was only a matter of time until the first cases showed up in Denver, given the high mobility of young gay men, and, sure enough, they did.  The early safe sex recommendations were so draconian that I decided I would rather do without and content myself with beating off. I think I got my first HIV test in 1986 and I was completely prepared for it to be positive, but it wasn't. Back then, the reality of AIDS was so horrible, that finding out I was negative was a huge motivator to keep making the right choices.

Re-reading this gave me an answer I've been searching for.  Occasionally, I talk  to young guys who ask me how I have stayed HIV negative for so long, as though there is some secret or special skill to it.  I think the reason that they they find it so difficult, is that they don't feel that urgency around it that we did.  They have never seen the grim reality of a world without effective antiviral meds.

[muscmtl]

This said, as this about escorts, wish there were more poz escorts cuz: poz for poz = game changer.

Fun fact, we pozforpoz right from the start. Was listening to FIASCO and one guy talked about it in 1982.

Fuck I miss the all poz only orgies of the before meds, during the wezallgonnadie anyway end of the world era. 

[muscmtl]

22 hours ago, jeezifonly said:

Medically inaccurate assessment, but extra points awarded for bottom-shaming. 

Wrong. Other thing no one talks about is the shit loads of guys not pozzing during that era. By 1985 I guarantee that if you heard a guy was neg then he was a strict top, and the supposed strict tops who pozzed were just one of those that would die before admitting they took a dick up their ass 

[+ FrankR]

Could we stop with the attempts to make HIV positive sound glamorous. It is still life changing today. You need to find a good doctor. You are on meds for the rest of your life. You have constant labs and blood work. And the mental health challenges are brutal. I have seen and helped many friends through this.