“Sorting” Things Out
One of the things that I enjoy when I am not working is checking out profiles of guys on websites. It’s pretty interesting to see how men are crafting their profiles (the pictures aren’t bad either!!). I always get a kick out of the “Rehoboth” area profiles as guys are starting to plan for their Memorial Day holiday. Already, we have guys looking for leather daddies for a week, guys who are smooth, guys who build portable “glory holes” in their hotel rooms and guys into groups. One of the postings on a popular website was for HIV+ guys only.
It’s amazing to see how long it takes trends from bigger cities like NYC, SF or Philadelphia make there way down to the gay community of Rehoboth. Maybe I haven’t noticed or maybe I am naive but “serosorting” has come to this area. Despite its criticisms, I believe this is a good strategy and I applaud HIV+ men for taking the initiative to protect other men from getting infected with HIV.
What is Serosorting?
Serosorting comes from the word "serum" which has to do with fluids of the blood. If you are HIV+ then you are sero-positive, and if you’re HIV- you are sero-negative. So, as I'm sure you've figured out, sero-sorting is the process of choosing your sexual/romantic partners based on whether or not they have HIV.
I think the HIV+ community use serosorting to avoid potential rejection, reduce fear or anxiety related to condom breakage, or for a greater sense of shared intimacy. This really isn’t unusual. I think many men have been doing this for a long time. Until recently, it’s been about romantic relationships but now it’s moved over to picking and choosing sex partners based on their HIV status.
While it's a great strategy for HIV+ guys, HIV- guys need to be careful about serosorting. I like to call this smarter sorting for HIV- men. Just because a guy says he is negative doesn't mean he truly knows for sure. It takes about two months for HIV to show up on a test, which means if they've had unsafe sex recently a negative result doesn't mean a thing. So, we're not advocating having bareback sex with somebody who says he's negative as a way of avoiding HIV infection but maybe eliminating high risk negatives out of your potential pool of sex partner. But pairing off with someone of your same status, while still practicing safer sex, definitely reduces your chances of catching HIV, or something else.
Just because you're serosorting doesn't mean condoms and lube should fall out of the picture, but it can be another important tool for maintaining your health whether you're Positive or Negative.
What Do You Think?
One of the things that I enjoy when I am not working is checking out profiles of guys on websites. It’s pretty interesting to see how men are crafting their profiles (the pictures aren’t bad either!!). I always get a kick out of the “Rehoboth” area profiles as guys are starting to plan for their Memorial Day holiday. Already, we have guys looking for leather daddies for a week, guys who are smooth, guys who build portable “glory holes” in their hotel rooms and guys into groups. One of the postings on a popular website was for HIV+ guys only.
It’s amazing to see how long it takes trends from bigger cities like NYC, SF or Philadelphia make there way down to the gay community of Rehoboth. Maybe I haven’t noticed or maybe I am naive but “serosorting” has come to this area. Despite its criticisms, I believe this is a good strategy and I applaud HIV+ men for taking the initiative to protect other men from getting infected with HIV.
What is Serosorting?
Serosorting comes from the word "serum" which has to do with fluids of the blood. If you are HIV+ then you are sero-positive, and if you’re HIV- you are sero-negative. So, as I'm sure you've figured out, sero-sorting is the process of choosing your sexual/romantic partners based on whether or not they have HIV.
I think the HIV+ community use serosorting to avoid potential rejection, reduce fear or anxiety related to condom breakage, or for a greater sense of shared intimacy. This really isn’t unusual. I think many men have been doing this for a long time. Until recently, it’s been about romantic relationships but now it’s moved over to picking and choosing sex partners based on their HIV status.
While it's a great strategy for HIV+ guys, HIV- guys need to be careful about serosorting. I like to call this smarter sorting for HIV- men. Just because a guy says he is negative doesn't mean he truly knows for sure. It takes about two months for HIV to show up on a test, which means if they've had unsafe sex recently a negative result doesn't mean a thing. So, we're not advocating having bareback sex with somebody who says he's negative as a way of avoiding HIV infection but maybe eliminating high risk negatives out of your potential pool of sex partner. But pairing off with someone of your same status, while still practicing safer sex, definitely reduces your chances of catching HIV, or something else.
Just because you're serosorting doesn't mean condoms and lube should fall out of the picture, but it can be another important tool for maintaining your health whether you're Positive or Negative.
What Do You Think?
1 comment:
I saw a TV show on Logo about an HIV+ guy who only dated other HIV+ men. He felt that this gave him an instant 'connection' to his dates, as they shared this important commonality. It also made him feel less vulnerable to rejection since he would not have to 'come out' as positive. Its an interesting concept
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