DISEASED

What is it about human beings that causes us to live in denial. Or maybe, sometimes, in voluntary ignorance? How many times do we need to hear the same message over and over again before it sinks in. Before we take notice and change?

We are a sick society. Very little is healthy about us. Our minds are sick, our emotions are twisted and our bodies are filled with all sorts of viruses.

You might be reading this and thinking I am not sick. Maybe you aren’t but someone you know is. Last year a woman who works for a TV production company had to research sexually transmitted illnesses formerly known as sexually transmitted diseases. Don’t start rolling your eyes.

She told me that South Africa is so divided that even the STIs we contract are somehow different. Where more black people get infected with HIV, more white people get infected with some or other STI that isn’t HIV. More of our society, black or white, than we are willing to acknowledge have or will be affected in one way or another by a sexually transmitted illness.

My girls and I were discussing STIs on the weekend. Listing all the ones we’ve heard of and their symptoms. Which ones are difficult to treat, and which ones go to “sleep”.  This was a scary conversation and too heavy for a Saturday. But what turned my blood to ice was the fact that none of these infections and viruses have visible symptoms in the beginning.

It’s easy to disassociate ourselves from sexually transmitted illnesses. A clear indication of this was a radio discussion a couple of years back when the DJ and newsreader were talking about how high school children have started having anal sex to prevent the possibility of pregnancy. In all that while the words HIV or AIDS were not mentioned.

There are many ways to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy (yes all you self righteous cringe), and you can cure most STIs, but there is no cure for HIV AIDS.

On  December every year the world goes on  HIV AIDS awareness mode. Knowing your status is encouraged and we are bombarded with information on this virus. Sexually active people are encouraged to be more responsible.

We hear. We know and yet for most of us, even those who are affected by the virus, still consider condoms to be an option and not a necessity. How many times do we hear of somebody who got an STI from someone else who didn’t even know they had it because the infection was inactive?

No one asks to get an STI or HIV. Before you and your partner decide that condoms are taking away spontaneity from your relationship ensure that you both go to a doctor and test for a full panel of STIs and HIV. You don’t want to be another statistic…