Interestingly enough, I got a ton of feedback from my PrEP post. Mostly in private though. .People reached out to me by email, pvt messages, and even texts to share their thoughts. Most were supportive and a few who disagreed in varying degrees.
I was just struck how so few people were willing to go on the record, so to speak, about the decision. The general consensus I got was that it was a very personal decision and many didn’t feel it should be up for debate by others. This in itself was a bit encouraging. It means people are ignoring the stupidity over ‘shaming’ and making informed decisions about what is best for them. The flip side, in an age where a complete stranger will show you vividly detailed pictures of his anatomy before even meeting, it isn’t so easy to discuss HIV prevention. We have some work to do. If we are ever truly going to get a handle on this we have to let go of the blame and guilt so common associated with STDs in general.
One dissenter was particularly focused on the drug companies making a huge sum of money off of PrEP. I’m not one for conspiracy theories but I also understand greed. But ‘knowing’ something w/o facts or proof isn’t really knowing at all. And frankly the drug companies don’t have to push their drugs on the negative folks. They can just as easily depend on the ignorance and fear to keep the transmission rate high and sell it to you when you convert. And since they aren’t the ones behind the idea to use Truvada as PrEP, it is really hard to sell that theory.
Anyway, I was happy to hear from so many who reached out to me. Some thanked me for my insight and discussion. Some lamented an age of ‘whores’, whatever that means. Overall, the general feeling was of acceptance, not as a solution but as a possible solution. The idea is that you consider it if it would be right for you. And many of my readers seemed to approach it from that perspective as well.