[xm177e2]

Is there any hard evidence at all to support this sensationalistic claim? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

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[Burkeman1]

My thoughts exactley when I read this piece on Drudge. What a nice round percentage. Seems designed to boost readership and cause a controversy. There is definetley a gay subculture out there that is practicing this sick pursuit (as some freepers on other threads researched) but 25%? That just seems outlandish.

[elbucko]

When the Apollo 11 astronauts returned from the Moon, we put them in quarantine for a month or so, just in case they brought back from the surface of the Moon some hitherto unknown and incurable bacterial or viral organisms.

When I ponder upon the history of AIDS in this country and the world I always remember that cautionary quarantine. Had those three men brought back some disease of the magnitude of HIV, what would we have done with them? Gassed them, then incinerated the quarantine trailer? I wonder.

AIDS has been a tragedy of biblical proportion. It is also a public health issue that has been, from the start, horribly mis-managed. It seems that it still is.

[MassExodus]

[robertpaulsen]

"With about 40,000 new infections in the United States per year, according to government reports, that would mean 10,000 each year are attributable to that more liberal definition of bug chasing."

Who said this? You? Or are you claiming that Dr. Cabaj extrapolated 10,000 out of 40,000? Please provide your cite.

Dr. Cabaj estimated twenty-five percent of all newly infected gay men, not twenty-five percent of all new infections.

[Cicero]

I don't know how many of them really WANT to get AIDS. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist these days to understand that every homosexual act of buggery with a stranger subjects you to considerable risks, and even if you are wearing a condom the risks are still very considerable. And since very few homosexual couples are faithful, you are also taking a risk with a known partner.

Condoms are thought to have a failure rate of about 15-25% protecting against the HIV virus.

However you like to characterize it, this kind of behavior still resembles Russian Roulette. It's not clear why the taxpayers should have to subsidize this behavior.

[gaijin]

18 months ago, a very "out" journalist from the San Francisco Chronical wrote an exhaustive article about this. He, too, introduced readers to these new terms. He had another: "Russian Roulette Party".

Apparently, party attendees pay entrance to such parties at private Bay Area homes. Two rules prevail; no condoms, and no talk whatsoever of HIV status. The catch?

Only the hosts of the party know for sure what person or persons at the party have THE BUG.

How many such people are present? I don't know that, but I guess it varies. I got the feeling that at most parties your odds of getting staying healthy afterwards are pretty good for a 1-time visit, assuming you have only a couple partners.

Look in the SF Chronicle about 18 months ago or so. The article was listed here at FR around that time, and drew many, many hits.

[RockandRollResurrection]

While this is incredibly stupid behavior (risking a deadly disease to enhance 'eroticism'), I would wager that the actual number of gays who intentionally court HIV is about the same as the number of straights who intentionally court hepatitis by engaging in 'scat' or 'watersports'. I.E. a very SMALL percentage. Still, I'm sure it won't stop 'people' tarring all homosexuals with the same brush.

[keats5]

So that's why the Brits called it "buggery."

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