Hanging on the telephone?
by Shawn Syms for xtra.ca
What if you could find out whether or not your next sexual partner had tested positive for HIV, at the push of a button on your touchtone phone?
That's the premise behind the "Safe Sex License" offered by STFree Certifications, which claims 15,000 members internationally. Members can "instantly prove" they've been tested and
share their most recent test results by showing a photo ID card and sharing their PIN number for STFree's computerized telephone service.No one needs a license to have safer sex, a concept that originated in the gay community back when powerful forces were still arguing that people with HIV should be quarantined. Safer sex means making informed choices about the risks we take in our most intimate moments — including the risk that one or both partners might have HIV or other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Such a service might seem solely in the interest of HIV-negative people. After all, if you had HIV and told someone, who would ever accuse you of lying? The company's website admits the service can only provide a member's most recent test results, acknowledging the "window period" that means a person with a recent HIV infection can have the virus and still test negative.
Read the rest.
No comments:
Post a Comment