Posted on 11/20/2015 9:10:41 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Charlie Sheen’s announcement that he is HIV positive has created a huge uproar as critics attack him from every direction, but the truth is that Charlie Sheen is simply a reflection of our society as a whole. You see, the truth is that it isn’t just big Hollywood stars that are engaged in insanely risky sexual behavior. According to the CDC, there are 110 million cases of sexually-transmitted disease in America today, and another 20 million STD cases are added to that total every year. The United States has the highest STD infection rate in the entire industrialized world, and more than half of all Americans will have a sexually-transmitted disease at some point during their lives. Approximately one out of every four teen girls in the U.S. has at least one sexually transmitted disease, and our nation spends $16,000,000,000 a year treating STDs. So go ahead and point a finger at Charlie Sheen if you want, but just remember that he is only a very small part of a raging national epidemic.
Now don’t get me wrong – I am certainly not defending Charlie Sheen. I am simply pointing out our hypocrisy. We love to tear others down while not realizing our own faults.
On Tuesday morning, Charlie Sheen told the world that he is HIV positive. The following is how USA Today announced the story…
Charlie Sheen is HIV positive, he told Matt Lauer during a much-touted exclusive Today show interview Tuesday morning.
The actor, whose drug use, rehab stints, legal issues, outbursts, on-set antics and many romantic entanglements have shaped his bad-boy image, confirmed the news, which had been swirling since Monday.
Of course Charlie Sheen is not being criticized for being HIV positive. Rather, the reason why so many people are jumping on him is because he continued to have unprotected sex even after he learned that he had HIV…
When Lauer asked Sheen if he had engaged in unprotected sex since his diagnosis, the actor responded in the affirmative. “The two people I did that with were under the care of my doctor and they were completely warned ahead of time.”
Talk about stupid.
And yet millions of other Americans are also running around having casual sex with people even after becoming infected with a sexually-transmitted disease.
For example, let’s take a look at chlamydia. According to the CDC, last year we broke the all-time record for the number of new chlamydia cases reported…
Chlamydia cases had dipped in 2013, but last year’s total of more than 1.4 million — or 456 cases per 100,000 — was the highest number of annual cases of any condition ever reported to the CDC.
The chlamydia rate was up almost three percent from 2013, new figures revealed.
The CDC is also reporting that cases of gonorrhea and syphilis are rising as well…
The CDC report revealed gonorrhea cases totaled 350,062, up five percent from 2013, and the most contagious forms of syphilis jumped 15 per cent to 20,000 cases.
What makes these numbers even more heartbreaking is the fact that our young people are being disproportionately hit by these diseases.
Of the 20 million new STD cases each year, Americans from the age of 15 to 24 account for about half of them.
This should not be happening. We have dramatically failed our young people, and the numbers just keep getting worse.
But instead of changing course and trying to do things differently, our entire culture continues to promote casual sex. As I wrote about just recently, the average American spends an average of 293 minutes a day watching television. And these days it is hard to find any show on television that is not talking about sex, and sometimes the commercials are the worst. I get so disgusted when I am trying to watch a football game and a Viagra commercial comes on. The reason I get so disgusted is that I know that millions of little boys are watching the games along with their fathers, and these commercials are communicating things to them that they do not need to know yet.
We need to teach our young people that there are rules, and that there can be very serious consequences for breaking those rules.
Above, I wrote about the latest numbers for chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, but there are other STDs that are raging out of control as well. The following statistics for HBV, genital herpes and HPV come from the American Sexual Health Association…
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we have a massive problem in this country.
But we certainly don’t want to hear about “morality”, do we?
We don’t want it anywhere in our schools, in our courts, in our government or in our entertainment.
We just want to do whatever we want to do, but then we are shocked when we learn that there are very serious consequences for being so reckless.
This STD epidemic is going to continue to rage out of control until we find a solution.
So how do we solve this problem?
Is there any hope that things can be turned around?
That phrase didn't jingle your bell even a little?
That is like saying cave dwellers and beach bunnies get the same amount of sunburns.
It means there is something very wrong with the parameters of this study
Guess the HIV epidemic in the homosexual community is no big deal.
Pray America wakes
Or it means at least one participant continues to lie about being monogamous (as happens VERY often in relationships)
Basically, you are equally as likely to catch an STD with one of the following lifestyles:
-Trusting a partner to be monogamous and not using protection.
-Sleeping around and always using protection.
WHY? The possibility of one (or more) partners cheating is about equal to the failure rate of condoms.
It’s simply too easy to cheat anonymously these days. It’s just a few clicks and minutes away if you are somewhat attractive.
If you are monogamous than you won't catch STDs. Plain, simple, straight. No if-ands-or-buts.
However, if you are romping with anything that moves, then your chances of catching something are pretty good.
Yup.
The point of the study is that people LIE
And putting your guard down and trusting someone is about equally dangerous as sleeping around these days (with protection).
Am I missing something.
If a person is cheating then they are not monogamous. Look up the definition of both in the dictionary.
“If a person is cheating then they are not monogamous.”
Yes, but the whole point is you don’t KNOW and aren’t protecting yourself. Because you foolishly trust someone
Just today at work I contracted a case of Hearing Aids. From listening to too many a-holes.
The point is that if you and your partner are monogamous then you won’t catch anything.
And maybe the old cultural institution of marriage and no sex before marriage, was a good thing. It was less fun but it served a purpose.
Adding... and a free for all is bad because, in addition to someone getting pregnant, you can catch all kind of really nasty diseases. And your chances increase with each new partner.
Maybe we should try to figure out why people are not monogamous first?
Maybe first and foremost, they are not married. No commitment if you are not married. Nor should anyone expect a monogamous commitment of you are not married.
Married people lie and cheat as much as anyone.
Various studies place the cheating rate of married individuals between 30-70%
I don’t believe their numbers. They’ll keep pushing promiscuity and homosexuality though.
I think that’s re-infections and multiple infections, plus HPV (more or less genital warts). There are people who collect STDs like others collect postcards.
Ignoring HPV (14 million cases), there are still Chlamydia (2.9 million), AIDS (41,000), syphilis (55,000), and gonorrhea (820,000). It’s a lot of cases other than HPV, but it’s also not always new people. People who sleep around (professional or recreational) this year will in many cases be doing the same thing next year.
Wow. I must live a sheltered life. I thought that marriage meant a commitment.
Apparently everyone cheats.
That’s all STDs in general. Bacterial STDs can be fixed with antibiotics, an STD involving a virus such as herpes, Hepatitis, or HIV, permanently remains a part of you. And it’s common that some people contract multiple STDs, so there is some overlap in the numbers.
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