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Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:46:46 GMT

Earlier today I entered Twitter to check on something and of course, I stumbled right into quite the sickening discourse once again going on within Spanish gay Twitter. Sorry, but I need to rant a bit and start a thread sharing my thoughts on PrEP and STDs, as well as judging and even harassment; and I'd like to hear from others. Let me start by contextualizing the fact that PrEP is not yet that common within my country. Spain has extremely strict regulations and eternal processes to approve any new pharma product. Even if the EU had approved PrEP ages ago and people would smuggle it from France in my area since forever, it was not something you could acquire in here by any regular means. PrEP started being approved and offered only back in 2020, which is crazy considering we own a good public health service. As of this moment PrEP is not a medicine you can buy at any pharmacy either. Instead, it is free for those who enroll in a voluntary program for those who applies (gay men, we are in) that enforces 3-monthly STD check-ups and, in return, the exact volume of needed pills are provided to you at the hospital. With this I want to clarify that any local PrEP user has very strict monitoring by doctors, because if you don't, you won't be dispensed the pills. Period. They are not just given away.

Now, I am not going to enter into what is best or what isn't. Every man is responsible and free to do as they choose with their body. And everyone should respect that. This means, if you are on PrEP and your sex partner is not and wants to use a condom, you are not entitled to make fun of them or start a harassing campaign outing them as weak or cowards. Moreover, the same goes the other way around. We gay men are already suffering enough discrimination during our daily lives for then to start discriminating ourselves for choosing to be more or less protected. I am tired of people pointing at PrEP users and calling them out as if they were with leprosy. Can a PrEP user that barebacks all day with different men get other STDs? Yes, he can. Can condom users get other STDs? Yes, they can.

All this discourse is always filled by white knights listing all the STDs they know. All of which they know because I am sure they got them in the first place at some point in their life. Because truth is, if you fuck, you'll get sick. There's always going to be risk out there. And no one can come here and say with a straight face that they do their blowjobs with condoms too. Then, of course, people start harassing saying, but what if they are lying? How can you know?

Excuse me, the same applies to every man saying on Grindr they are HIV- and turns out that woah, they actually were positive. Or the thousand gays that will tell you they are clean and their last check-up was a year ago and they have no idea they're actually carrying 3 different STDs just because their dick is not oozing green, yet. So why are we targeting and harassing those who are choosing to level up their protection? It's not even a 100% selfish act (because yes, I am not going to sweeten it, 99% of PrEP users want it to be able to enjoy barebacking), but a PrEP user, at least in Spain, is more likely to be someone who has an extremely strict health routine in what to STDs relates to. Is this happening elsewhere? I am very curious about the American POV, where, from what I gathered, PrEP usage has been taken for granted for a very long time. Bottom line, I am very aware of all the potential risks; but as someone who can speak from first person experience, on what is to screw up your life over trusting the wrong person, it sickens me to see others judging those who really want to stay on the safer side. Back on 2013, more than a decade ago, as of today, I was coerced into having unprotected sex with the man I thought I was able to trust. I had no means to have any extra protection layers on me. Spain was not approving any HPV vaccines either and worst of all, there was a huge lack of information. Because of trusting the wrong person, I went overnight from being a healthy young man, into carrying a list of STDs which wasn't a bingo because fate decided that adding HIV would be too much. But they were that many, that I did not even know about most of those I got infected with from this "very healthy and trusty person". How can people be judging me or anybody that nowadays wants to take a pill to feel safer and have more control over their bodies? How can people be attacking when I know very well what it is to spend almost 9 years to finally get that result that says your viral load is negative? What do you all who harass people who want to have control of their health gain from this? Are you trying to get a moral high ground?
Well, I sincerely hope you are never lied to, coerced, drugged and/or abused. Because none of those were my choices. Taking my PrEP was.

Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:31:15 GMT

Earlier today I entered Twitter to check on something and of course, I stumbled right into quite the sickening discourse once again going on within Spanish gay Twitter. I need to rant and start a thread on PrEP and STDs, as well as judging and even harassment; and I'd like to hear from others.

Let me start by contextualizing the fact that PrEP is not yet that common within my country. Spain has extremely strict regulations and eternal processes to approve any new pharma product. Even if the EU had approved PrEP ages ago and people would smuggle it from France in my area since forever, it was not something you could acquire in here by any regular means. PrEP started being approved and offered only back in 2020, which is crazy considering we own a good public health service. As of this moment PrEP is not a medicine you can buy at any pharmacy either.

Instead, it is free for those who enroll in a voluntary program for those who applies (gay men, we are in) that enforces 3-monthly STD check-ups and, in return, the exact volume of needed pills are provided to you at the hospital. With this I want to clarify that any local PrEP user has very strict monitoring by doctors, because if you don't, you won't be dispensed the pills. Period. They are not just given away.

On 2013, a decade ago, I was coerced into having unprotected sex with the man I thought I was able to trust. I had no means to have any extra protection layers on me. Spain was not approving any HPV vaccines either and worst of all, there was a huge lack of information. Because of trusting the wrong person, I went overnight from being a healthy young man, into carrying a list of STDs which wasn't a bingo because fate decided that adding HIV would be too much. But they were that many, that I did not even know about most of those I got infected with from this "very healthy and trusty person". How can people be judging me or anybody that nowadays wants to take a pill to feel safer and have more control over their bodies? How can people be attacking when I know very well what it is to spend almost 9 years to finally get that result that says your viral load is negative? What do you all who harass people who want to have control of their health gain from this? Are you trying to get a moral high ground? Well, I sincerely hope you are never lied to, coerced, drugged and/or abused. Because none of those were my choices. Taking my PrEP was.

Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:28:38 GMT

Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:27:05 GMT