HOWEVER, quotes like the one below, from a recent Salon interview about "what is wrong with gay men today", are DISGUSTING.
"I never said don't have sex, but what's so hard about using rubbers? It doesn't seem to require much intelligence to figure that one out. I don't have much sympathy for people who seroconvert now, who know about AIDS. I don't care if you were on drugs or whether you were out of it in the heat of passion or whatever. Your cock is a lethal instrument. It can murder people."Please, tell us how comparing gay men's cocks to murder weapons is helpful?
Read the rest, see what you think. That kind of utter hateful crap makes it pretty damn hard to listen to the rest of what he has to say - all of which isn't rubbish...
what about you starting telling us how it is not? At least it would help us readers understanding how you frame your disgust so that we respond appropriately to your question?
ReplyDeleteThe short answer is because a murder weapon does not generally require the murdered to provide consent and typically to grasp the weapon and guide it into his or her body.
ReplyDeleteOutside of rape or power discrepancies in relationships, both partners share responsibility for transmission of HIV.
Beyond that, Kramer's feelings discussion of condoms is reductionist and dogmatic. Condoms do not work for everyone. I'm fortunate that they do work extremely for me, but when they cause erectile dysfunction and inability to ejaculate, that's a serious issue.
Even that ignores the psychosocial issues involved. If Larry can't understand why some people sometimes don't use a condom, then he needs to take a look at the statistics for unwanted pregnancy.
>"I never said don't have sex, but what's so hard about using rubbers? It doesn't seem to require much intelligence to figure that one out. I don't have much sympathy for people who seroconvert now, who know about AIDS. I don't care if you were on drugs or whether you were out of it in the heat of passion or whatever. Your cock is a lethal instrument. It can murder people."
ReplyDeleteYup. That simple.
>"The short answer is because a murder weapon does not generally require the murdered to provide consent and typically to grasp the weapon and guide it into his or her body.
ReplyDeleteOutside of rape or power discrepancies in relationships, both partners share responsibility for transmission of HIV.
Beyond that, Kramer's feelings discussion of condoms is reductionist and dogmatic. Condoms do not work for everyone. I'm fortunate that they do work extremely for me, but when they cause erectile dysfunction and inability to ejaculate, that's a serious issue.
Even that ignores the psychosocial issues involved. If Larry can't understand why some people sometimes don't use a condom, then he needs to take a look at the statistics for unwanted pregnancy."
Yup. That simple.
some of my best friends are absolute reductionists.
ReplyDeleteLarry lived in a time where many of his friends were dying of AIDS. Unprotected sex COULD KILL YOU back then.
ReplyDeleteThere were no drug companies taking out full page ads in OUT magazine showing happy models saying they were HIV positive leading productive lives with their (expensive) drugs.
As a survivor of that period, Larry Kramer will always look at an erect condomless cock as a potential murder weapon.