Men in the U.S. who have sex with men are the most vulnerable group, most at risk, when it comes to getting HIV infections.
According to AIDS statistics put out by the U.S. government, men who have sex with men accounted for 61% of all new HIV infections in the U.S. in 2009.
Source: AIDS.gov
Injection drug users accounted for a mere 9% of new HIV infections and heterosexual sex was responsible for 27%.
But male with male sex looms over all other HIV transmission categories, responsible for a whopping 61%.
High Risk Categories
Of course, being a savant it was no surprise to me that homosexuals, intravenous drug users sharing needles and people getting transfusions of untested blood run a higher risk of getting HIV.
But what knocked me off off my perch was the severe risk that men who have sex with men in the U.S. have of getting a HIV infection.
As a transmission category for new HIV infections, men having sex with men is alarmingly higher compared to other methods of getting a HIV infection like sharing needles or heterosexual sex.
Does this mean that the chances of a man getting HIV from screwing a woman hooker is less compared to a man coupling with another man? A good research subject, in my opinion.
Sex between men accounted for nearly half (49%) of people living with HIV in 2008 (the most recent year national prevalence data is available).
Also, what stumps me is the failure of so many men here to practice safe sex through the use of condoms.
Just in case you didn’t know, HIV ultimately can lead to AIDS. And a meeting with Yamaraj, the Hindu God of Death.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that men having sex with men account for just 2% of the U.S. male population aged 13 and older, but accounted for more than 50% of all new HIV infections annually from 2006 to 2009.
Any way you slice it, men having sex with men run a very high risk.
The men with men sex category includes gays, bisexuals and other men who have sex with men.
Alert for Indian Men in U.S.
It’s true that Indian men having sex with men in Amreeka has not reached high levels yet (although I’m suspicious when I see Indian men embracing for more than 1.5 seconds to the loud exclamation of Bhaiyya).
It’s a truism that what the American does today, the Indian-American copies tomorrow in his lifestyle.
I’m not joking.
Mudaliar families in Maryland are fleeing to beach resorts in summer, Gujju divorces are no longer uncommon and Tamil boys in New Jersey are turning into peeping-toms.
Men with men sex has already lost its taboo among a lot of Americans and it won’t be long before Indian men in Amreeka start replacing Bhaiyya with Bulbul in their encounters with other men.
All great sociological insights start with astute observations on individual behavior from observant souls like yours truly. These are often extrapolated to a community or society level to understand cultures.
If the anthropologist M.N.Srinivas were alive, he’d acknowledge me as a fine acolyte of the research technique of participant observation that he pioneered.
If the village of Rampura was Srinivas’s petridish in 1942, my lab is the Indian America community in 21st century Amreeka.
So the next time all ye Patels, Shahs, Mudaliars, Shettys, Gowdas, Guptas and Banerjis have an urge to play Bulbul with your male buddy, think twice, even thrice before you bugger or get buggered?
Is getting HIV worth the 60-seconds of aah-ooh-aah?
By the way, 20% of those with HIV in the U.S. are unaware of their infection.
Take a mental snap of the below graphic and play it in your mind the next time you get the urge to make your Bhaiyya your Bulbul:
Related Content:
AIDS – The U.S. Situation
AIDS – The Global Picture
Why Indian Men Must Avoid Sex With Men added by SearchIndia.com on
View all posts by SearchIndia.com →
I am not surprised by this..it’s just a mathematical reality…. an act of homosexuality is a direct source of HIV infection and homosexuals totally depend on other men for sex hence their exposure to HIV is 100%.
However, on the other hand, heterosexuals are likely to be exposed to high risk only when they sleep with a prostitute who is a secondary source of infection i.e. she wouldn’t directly cause you AIDS unless she herself is exposed to it.
Apart from prostitutes, heterosexuals also sleep with their wives and girl friends which is more or less safer. Therefore, for every three acts of sex with three different partners of different social milieu, a homosexual is exposed to the direct source of a HIV infection all the three times as against a heterosexual who is likely to be exposed only once to a secondary source of infection.
Therefore,a homosexual is always exposed to a cent percent risk whenever he has sex as opposed to the heterosexual whose bulk of sexual acts may involve no risk…hence the number…… the same thing goes for the needle users….
SearchIndia.com Responds:
My hypothesis is that homosexuality is a manifestation of body-chemistry gone awry.
The right-wing politicians, Christian-Right and Hindus (who are otherwise liberal in their worldview tend to go ballistic when it comes to homosexuality) may fret and fume and rant and rave but at the end of the day biochemistry rules.
Given that there are far fewer homosexuals in society than heterosexuals, choice and, by extension, free will is limited for homosexuals.
From that perspective, homosexuals are less culpable (let’s not forget lifestyles are often blamed for all kinds of STD) for contracting HIV.