Mind Games

9:22 PM

Our emotional wellbeing can effect whether we f*ck with condoms or not. Things such as loneliness, depression, poor body image, and low self-esteem can mean abandoning condoms for reasons including needing human contact, trying to prove attractiveness, fear of rejection or feeling you don't deserve to protect yourself. All these issues can be treated with counseling. Talking to a counsellor about personal stuff may feel like talking to a stranger, but it may be worth overcoming some shyness to avoid HIV or an STI being the result of your last bout of the "blues."

An unhealthy relationship can also be the source of emotional problems. Physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, social and financial abuse are all characteristics of an unhealthy relationship. A partner can use any of this abuse to force or manipulate the other into having sex without condoms. Abuse is unacceptable in a relationship. You are worth more.

Source: Victorian AIDS Council/ Gay Men's Health Centre, Victoria, Australia

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Pulling Out: Protection or Not

9:05 PM

Some guys think that pulling out before they come is an effective way of avoiding passing on or getting HIV. However, this is NOT a reliable way to reduce the risk of sex without condoms. This is because:
  • Pre-cum (the fluid that leaks from the tip of the penis during stimulation) can also contain HIV and can pass it on long before anyone has come.
  • The guy doing the screwing may accidentally come before he has a chance to withdraw.
  • A casual hook-up may not honor an agreement to pull out before he comes.
  • If you're screwing without condoms, just because the top doesn't come, that doesn't mean that the bottom couldn't pass on HIV if he's HIV-positive. HIV can pass from the bottom's anus into the top's cock via the opening at the tip of the cock or through the skin of the cock in tiny abrasions cause by friction during sex.
Source: Victorian AIDS Council/ Gay Men's Health Centre, Victoria, Australia

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PEP

8:42 PM

PEP (POS-Exposure Prophylaxis) is a four-week course of anti-HIV treatment drugs you can take if you think you may have just been exposed yourself to HIV through unprotected sex or by sharing a needle. PEP can, in most cases, stop HIV from establishing itself in the body and prevent you from becoming HIV-positive, if the PEP treatment is begun within 72 hours of exposure to HIV and taken correctly over the next 28 days.

PEP is a combination of two, or sometimes three, of the anti-HIV treatment drugs that HIV-positive people take daily to minimize the virus's ability to multiply in their body.

PEP is NOT a morning after pill that makes it easy and safe to have unprotected sex. PEP is no picnic; you have to take two or three drugs every day for 28 days for it to work. These often cause very unpleasant side effects such as nausea and headaches. The easiest way to avoid having to take PEP is to wrap it up i.e., use a condom and water-based lube.

Source: Victorian AIDS Council/ Gay Men's Health Centre, Victoria, Australia

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