Among younger MSM (aged 15 to 24), HIV diagnoses have doubled in 10 years. This increase is partly due to the fact that more MSM are testing for HIV but also because rates of HIV transmission remain high. Young MSM are also more likely to experience a range of other health issues, for example, poor mental health and problematic drug and alcohol use. These factors not only impact on individual well-being but have also been associated with HIV transmission risk behavior. For this reason NAT (National AIDS Trust) carried out a survey of young MSM asking them where they looked for information about sex, relationships and HIV and how helpful they found the information they received. The survey also looked at respondents’ knowledge of HIV and experience of sex and relationship education in school. With over 1,000 respondents, ‘Boys who like boys’ is the largest survey of this kind ever conducted in the UK.
The Results:
Over half (55%) of survey respondents had experienced bullying and discrimination because of their sexual orientation.
Sixty per cent of survey respondents did not know or were not sure that “Guys who have sex with other guys are recommended to have an HIV test at least once a year.”
Pornography was the most common source where respondents looked for information about enjoyable sex. A notable proportion of respondents rated pornography as helpful or very helpful.
Author’s note: First, again, with regards to bullying, I am unconvinced that harassment is a result of the outward manifestation of the orientation or a cause of the orientation. In my estimation, because of the fetishistic obsession with the terrorized gay teen (twink) in the homosexual porn world (see my earlier blog: http://www.josephsciambra.com/2013/12/gay-bullying-and-homosexual-quest-for.html) I believe the latter to be the truest: i.e. an artistic, effeminate, or uncoordinated male youth becomes ridiculed setting up a later swerve in the eroticization of masculinity.
Secondly, because of the monumental media push by the gay power-pushers to remake the gay male image as domesticated, middle-class, and sanitary - there is a post-AIDS generation that is wholly ignorant with regards to the dangers of HIV; the massive educational programs spear-headed by grass-roots homosexual advocates have forever faded into the past; now, instead of championing “safe-sex,” they crowd the public consciousness with pictures of well-scrubbed gay men playing with their newly adopted baby. Gone are the scary movies-of-the-week detailing the horrific impact of AIDS on individuals and families.
Lastly, and most significantly, porn was seen by gay teens as a major source of information and inspiration; like the question of gay bullying - these results beg for more answers: are teens who seem to be more or less already affirmed in their orientation going to porn; or, are teens who are merely confused or questioning going to porn and then becoming fixed in their homosexuality?
Link to the study: