GERRI@IBM.COM (Gerri Oppedisano) (11/30/90)
> This group of people would have been fifteen or below at the start of > the epidemic, and in many cases might not have been part of the gay > community for a large part of the past decade. If this is the case, > I can understand how not having experienced personal losses as a > result of AIDS may account for what I see as a considerable lack of > interest on the part of the 25 and younger groupin doing direct > PWA-related work. However, I cannot imagine that now being active > in the gay community this group would be unaware of safer sex > educational efforts. Would it be a meaningful stastic to get numbers on that ages of men these young gay men have sex with or had their first experience with? I only ask since the few gay men I know started young with an older man.. one who perhaps should've been more responsible. All a young person needs is one older model example whom they admire to make them feel safe and protected somehow. In general I think it is true that the late teens/early 20's is a dangerous age as far as awareness and reality goes. Perhaps health/sex education should be significantly improved in some way or perhaps it's just human nature that the young feel rebellious or invincible. I used to play a silly game of trying to get away with not doing things the way they "should be done" just to see how long I go without damage. One example was not using any form of birth control for many years because I felt I wasn't promiscuous enough to need it and could get away with the "pull out" method. I think the magic age for me was 25 or 26 when I came to realize there only need be one fertilized egg and then I'd have to deal with either abortion or a child, neither of which I could handle. The only way I can see to help the situation is through better education (i.e. evaluating statistics and the consequenses faced when taking certain risks) and through real exposure to the desease in some way (films, visit to a hospital, volunteer work for AIDS programs for credit in school..). g