"Gift Parties" - Purposefully passing AIDS

[Spoomonkey]

Have you heard of these???

The guy who did my tattoo yesterday (pictures to come, I promise) tells me about them. Basically, they are when a group of gay men get together - one who is infected with AIDS - and they have unprotected sex in the HOPES that one or more will become infected - thus qualifying for government assistance and, basically, a free ride.

The rationale being that treatments being what they are these days, quality and length of life has been greatly improved, so the fear of the disease is not as strong as it once was...

The prospect of having a "made" life is tempting enough that some guys get the disease and shrug their way to the social security office...

Has anyone else heard of these? Urban legend or infuriating and sad phenomenon? Are there really people out there with this sort of disdain for life?

Spoomonkey

[two4youinswva]

I read a story about this a year or so ago. Like you, I wondered if it was just an urban legend. A search of Snopes.com didn't reveal any stories along this line. Not that that is definitive or anything.

In the article I read, it didn't state why they were "giving the gift", as they called it. As I recall, it was pretty much the way you described it: Have a party, participate in bareback sex with an HIV+ man.

I couldn't begin to explain this behavior, and won't even venture an uneducated opinion.

EDIT: Damn, that must've been one long tattoo session for that subject to come up!

[Botcpl]

Just too wierd! I say let the state keep their money and live a healthy and happy life. That is like the guy who chews on lead BB's to raise his blood lead level so he gets sent home with pay until he recovers. Never mind the fact that it screws up your nervoius system and causes all sorts of harm. Then you hear stories like this and it just validades the thought that some people should not reproduce.

HIV is a horible way to die, the fact that you can be kept alive for a long time doesn't make it much better. You get sick at the drop of a hat and you live and a whole mess of pills and stuff and really is not such a great way to live your life.

Life is so much better when you're not sick.

P

[playmatesinpgh]

If this is true, it is just too sick to even comment on.

[dutch51]

Originally Posted by playmatesinpgh

If this is true, it is just too sick to even comment on.

Gotta agree with that one. Haven't heard of it, hope it's just urban legend, but if not.... yikes!!!!!!

[highlander]

Actually, I can _easily_ believe this isn't just the stuff of urban legends. A lot of young gay guys really don't have that much to look forward to when they get older. I don't see that as a statment about the young men in question so much as a statement about American society throwing a lot of young men on the trash heap. I think a lot of these guys would be _VERY_ different in a different situation.

[Vespertine]

I watched a documentary/movie about this. I believe it was even called "The Gift". It is a very real thing that's happening and I think it's scary as hell.

[Vespertine]

"Controversial and uncompromisingly frank, Louise Hogarth's award-winning documentary looks at the alarming trend among many young gay men to actively seek infection with HIV. In revealing conversations, recently infected gay men (slangily referred to as "bug chasers" in some circles) explain the ostracism they encountered when HIV-negative, and how mixed messages found in pharmaceutical marketing actually eroticize having the deadly virus. "One of the most disturbing works I've seen in a long time" -- Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times."

Took a peek online and this is playing again on the Sundance Channel on Wed. 6/29 at 8:30. It's called "The Gift".

[highlander]

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/sto...on=6.0.12.1040

"Carlos has been chasing the bug for more than a year in a topsy-turvy world in which every convention about HIV is turned upside down."
If it is true that this guy can _try_ for a year to get HIV-and doesn't, this says something aobut how this disease may affect different folks differently.

"Carlos carries another secret that he says heightens the thrill of pursuing HIV. Sometimes he volunteers in the offices of Gay Men's Health Crisis, the pre-eminent HIV-prevention and AIDS-activist organization in New York. And about once a month, he does outreach volunteering in which he goes to clubs to hand out condoms and educate men about safe sex."

[Mrs Spoomonkey]

Originally Posted by two4youinswva

EDIT: Damn, that must've been one long tattoo session for that subject to come up!

Three hours and yes a lot of weird and interesting topics came up. This one was the scariest though. I can't imagine wanting to play this type of Russian Roulette. Dying from HIV is not a pleasant experience and why someone would purposely try to get it is beyond my comprehension.


Mrs Spoomonkey

[highlander]

People can get _VERY_ strange around various sexual things. For example, think about that man in Germany that volunteered to be slaughtered and eaten by a sex partner he had met on the internet. We have entire _societies_ like China in which castration played an important role in the social order-and this was going on until 60 years ago!

This is more relevent for swingers than I think some folks may think.
We've had _lots_ of cases where men were obsessed with killing "promiscuous" women(i.e. think about Jack the Ripper). I _can_ easily imagine there are some sick puppies out here obsessed with giving AIDS to women they hate-and some of them are good looking/charming enough to do a lot of damage.

[strokinclit]

This is very popular in the New York City area, along with the sex parties enhanced with "club" drugs.

As a person who actively works in the treatment of HIV and AIDS, I can affirm the statements made in the previous posts. They really don't know the full impact of what they are dealing with, nor what life will be like down the road for them. As for the here and now, it is a social problem that rest of us are paying for dearly!

[highlander]

Originally Posted by strokinclit

This is very popular in the New York City area, along with the sex parties enhanced with "club" drugs.

I'd read about the role of crystal meth in this subculture-but I hadn't heard anything much about club drugs(which I think of as MDMA and GHB. I never thought of crystal meth or cocaine as "club drugs"-but the wikipedia articles lists them as such. What more can you say about the drug culture that goes along with this?

[Atilla]

What's next? that is just sick

Three hours and yes a lot of weird and interesting topics came up.

That belly piercing sure didn't take that long, did it Mrs Spoo?

The guy who did my tattoo yesterday (pictures to come, I promise)

yes , please, I wanna see what you got done so long as it's not in a naughty spot, that is, lol