"The notion that young men do not fear HIV is a myth"

[Steven Adamson]

I've been hearing talk for about a decade now that young gays aren't afraid of HIV/AIDS. Some of it was that young people in general aren't afraid of it because they get desensitized to it from over-exposure to education campaigns etc and it's hard to keep a person scared of the same thing perpetually.

This article in CNN wants us to consider that maybe the younger generation IS aware and careful.

It seems somewhat contradictory. The writer acknowledges that riskier behaviour among young gays is up, so even if it's true that young gays have a fear of HIV, it's at a lower level that is still resulting in harm.

But then again, maybe he has a point and we should be glad HIV isn't the mega threat it once was and not cast shame on youg gays as a disease vector since that kind of shame hurts treatment and education efforts?

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/06/health/halkitis-hiv/index.html?hpt=hp_t5

[JamesSavik]

It seems somewhat contradictory. The writer acknowledges that riskier behaviour among young gays is up, so even if it's true that young gays have a fear of HIV, it's at a lower level that is still resulting in harm.

There is a spectrum of attitudes. People who haven't lived through 1996 CAN NOT understand what we have seen. I pick '96 because it was just before the cocktail and was a very bad year.

They haven't seen the papers with their friends and peers in the obituaries.

They don't know the fear when one of your circle of friends just stops showing up.

Many in the new generation have come to see AIDS as a nuisance rather than a menace: a chronic condition manageable by drugs.

What they don't understand is that microbes evolve at a furious rate. For every drug we throw at a virus, we can expect a mutation.

If we aren't careful, sooner or later, the laws of probability are going to catch up with us and people will get to see exactly what the bad old days were like... or God forbid, worse.