TheLoop21.com

We have to take responsibility for our own health. Herpes used to be the worst STD we might be infected with but no longer. At what point do we take responsibility for our own bodies?

It's a well known fact that our men are incarcerated at phenomenal rates and we can only guess what happens to many of them in there. When they return to "society" they are not reformed individuals but damaged individuals. They frequently cannot find work (it's even worse in this economic climate) and they become selfish people who only care about getting over and scoring not about the women in their lives.

We women have to be vigilant, do not let a man enter your body without protecting yourself. Yes he may be cute, yes he may turn you on but he may also be a hot bed of HIV. You have to take care of your self before you can take care of anyone else. Who will raise your children if you become too ill to care for them?

We as parents must raise awareness in our communities about the tremendous rates of infection in our young people. We must encourage masturbation as an option for sexual relief. We must educate our children not only about the joys but also the possible consequencies of a sexual relationship. We must educate them about respect for themselves and the partners in their lives.

I don't think abstinence is our only option but it should be one of the weapons in our arsenal. Encourage couples to be tested together before they begin a sexual relationship. Sex is one of lifes great gifts but it is turning into one of lifes greatest dangers for us.

If I'm not mistaken those infection rates constitute an epidemic, when do we wake up? When do we take care of our own? When do we mature into a community that not only pays lip service to a problem but actively take steps to heal ourselves.

The black man can't keep his willie in his pants. Just HOW is that the governments fault? Why don't we have King Obama make a law stating unless you are married, you must not have sex. Oh wait. That is the higher ruler, Jesus, that says that in the Bible.

Why don't mothers and fathers raise their sons right and teach their daughters to stay pure??? Isn't that their JOB as parents???

MJ wrote and sang "Gone Too Soon" song for Ryan White, the young boy who acquired HIV/AIDS (and eventually died) from a blood transfusion in the mid-80s and who was severely discriminated against during a time when there was little knowledge about HIV and tremendous stigma and fear.

Fear and stigma still exist 27 years later. Michael Jackson was really the first major US celebrity and African American to break the silence, that continues to undermine our progress in the battle against preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS esp in the African Am. community, and to speak out against this fear and stigma.

So in honor of Micheal Jackson and his dedication to raising awareness about the US and global AIDS epidemic...National HIV Testing Day is June 27, 2009. Everybody should know their HIV Status. Get Tested. If you test neg., do everything in your power to stay that way. If you test pos., get treatment. HIV is a long-term disease if treated. Knowing your status gives you control over your life.

I have been doing some research on male rape, specifically my research on male rape in prisons, crossed over with the HIV problem in he black community and this is what I found.

http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ruckerj/johnson_raphael_prison-AIDSpaper6-...

Rucker C. Johnson and Steven Raphael

Don't know if you have this already but it's a report that draw a direct correlation between HIV rates in Blacks with the higher than average prison incarcerations. This might explain why the disease stays in some areas and does not act like other STD's.

Apparently of the men in prison who are 4-7 times more likely to be HIV positive than the rest of society, they are getting released back into society and going on to infect other men and women, specifically the black community. Some studies according to the article also suggest that as many as half the men in prison engage in male on male sex. (Think about that maybe upto 50% of men in prison might be unwillingly engaging in male on male sex. 1 in 71 Americans are in jail. 1 in 3 Black men if this rate of incarcerations continues will be in jail at some point in their live and half of those might end up having to engage in male on male sex if some of those studies about male on male sex are true. Then these men would be release some with HIV, and out into the community they go.)

Also since blacks are in jail more than other races, (due to the war on drugs in my opinion) then they are at greater risk. The research is interesting.

I have started researching male rape in society and the code of silence and denial that surrounds it, and came across what I saw as a possible correlation between the rapes, male on male sex etc in jails and the HIV rates in black communities, and was happy to find that some research had been done on this.

My personal suggestions. Stop the war on drugs. Decrimiialize some drugs like Mexico just did. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/08/20098
2118315790550.html

Release the non violent offenders, or house them else where.

Give condoms to men in prisons. I am not condoning anything, but I am accepting the reality of the situation.

Give the men access to family visits. (By this I mean conjugal visits.)

Let men in jail report rapes anonymously. Take the reports seriously. Stop blaming them for not being able to fight off other guys, or for mentally not knowing how to cope, who the hell would know how to cope with that crap?

When they get out and while they are in, men need mental health help to deal with the things that happen to them in prison, the violence, rapes, traumas. They need to be tested, but they need privacy, in jail nothing is secret or sacred, so many men do not get tested, do not report rapes, do not use protection, cause the option is not there.

Stop the over crowding in jail. Many of these men do not belong in jail.

When they get out many will again repeat acts of violence, because they were not helped, and the vicious cycle will continue.

However to answer your question, this is what I surprisingly came across, in my opinion based on the research that I read, that others have already done into this, and the book no escape, male rape in America, then these are things that need to be done. The sooner the better.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize there is a direct correlation between incarceration and HIV/AIDS rates in the black community. Of course there's a connection! Common sense dictates this. Black men are getting infected either through rape or consentual gay sex while serving their prison sentences, end of story.

The only question is how to mitigate the risk of infection: A) avoid incarceration (overhaul of low-income black values), B) avoid gay sex or C) petition for sentencing leniency. Since option C is morally insane, what must be done is very clear.

aframnews.com