The New Epidemic: Despair Amid Reports of Skyrocketing Youth HIV Infection

Are we winning the war against AIDS? Not if you believe a spate of recent news reports. Not only are we apparently not making significant headway against new infections of HIV, but younger people are either ignorant of, or ignoring, safer-sex messages.

A recent Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report revealed that one in five gay men in urban areas of the U.S. has tested HIV-positive, with the highest risk falling on gay youth and gay men of color. More than half of HIV positive MSMs under 30 did not know their status. According to the report, MSMs account for an astounding 53 of all new HIV infections.

Due to the advent of anti-retroviral therapies (the so-called "cocktail"), those with HIV are living longer and more productive lifestyles. Coupled with the fact that it has been almost thirty years since the severity of the early HIV epidemic, many worry that Millennials (referring to those born after 1980) -- especially but not limited to those young men who primarily have sex with other men -- may not view the virus as a serious health threat.

This, in turn, has led to lax safe-sex practices among younger people. And while HIV may not be the death sentence it was in the 1980s, those that are the most at risk are the least likely to have access to life-extending medication.

For over two decades, Paul Kawata, executive director of the National Minority AIDS Council, has developed leadership in communities of color to address the challenges of HIV/AIDS. In his outreach, Kawata has noticed a dramatic difference shift in perceptions among youth towards HIV and AIDs from when he began in the late 1980s.

"There most certainly is a decrease in concern about HIV among young people, and it's particularly troubling to see," Kawata told EDGE. "However, I'm not sure you can pinpoint just one cause. Apathy, I'm sure, plays a part. People are living longer, healthier lives with the disease. But I also think that young people have a tendency to see themselves as invincible -- that they'll never get infected. Unfortunately, this just isn't the case --13 percent of new infections occur among youth between the ages of 13 and 24."

Kawata added that socioeconomic circumstances often leave youth of color particularly vulnerable. Not only are minority populations less likely to be educated about safer sex practices, but "they also have less access to HIV testing, condoms, etc." He said that the increase among infections risks is only exacerbated by a sense of apathy and invincibility.

Ignoring -- Or Even Fetishizing -- Unsafe Sex

When the AIDS epidemic was at its height, news channels across the country were showcasing the skeletal remains of AIDS victims on a non-stop schedule. But with a greater number of treatment options the face of HIV has changed, and Kawata believes that has lessened the urgency related to the disease.

"What's more, the media has lost interest in the epidemic as a whole," Kawata said. "Some of that has to do with the sensationalized news cycle, which seems more concerned with the Lindsay Lohans of the world than discussing the 30-year struggle to put an end to this disease. But natural limitations on the nation's collective attention span also play a part. It's our job in the movement to find ways to keep America focused and committed. "

Earlier this month, two of the biggest companies in the adult entertainment industry, Wicked Pictures and Vivid Entertainment, shut down productions after one of their actors tested positive for HIV. Simultaneously, the popularity of bareback films continues to rise and more companies and more companies are abandoning condoms to showcase actors engaging in raw sex acts. While Kawata says there is lack of evidence proving that the films have any influence on youth, he believes it is worth investigating.

"This is a growing trend, and there is a great deal of concern that it could fetishize unsafe sex, setting back efforts by the AIDS community to normalize condom usage," Kawata told EDGE. "Unfortunately, there hasn't been too much empirical research done on the effects that so-called bareback porn has on condom usage. This is definitely an area where we need to start focusing additional resources and opening up dialogues between the industry and HIV/AIDS advocates."'

amFAR sponsored a conference in Washington, D.C., on the alarming spread of HIV among youth:

The Barebacking Debate

The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the nation's largest provider of health services to people with HIV, has led the fight against bareback pornography by picketing venues where such products are distributed, filing suits against Los Angeles County and filing complaints with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

Michael Weinstein, president of AHF, hopes to put an end to barebacking in pornography altogether. As he revealed to EDGE reporter Peter Cassels, "I lived through a time when safer sex was the norm and 100 percent of gay videos used condoms -- we're doing everything we can to return to that time." He claims that the films are not only putting actors at risk, they are sending out the wrong message to its audience.

Paul Morris, founder and director of the gay bareback porn company Treasure Island Media, disagrees, and argues Weinstein's efforts are actually hurting performers' privacy.

"Culture is about catharsis, the experience that releases the audience from the necessity to act out what they watch," Morris told EDGE. "[Weinstein] believes that it's perfectly acceptable for the government to covertly funnel extremely private information about the HIV status of patients of public clinics in order to bolster the client-list of AHF. Control trumps privacy for the good gay."

Morris added that "study after study" has shown that an increase in violence in films lends to a decrease in violent acts performed by the viewing public. He said that the sex practices of young men have much more of an influence on his films then his films have on them.

While Morris would not discuss the precautions he takes to protect his performers, as he feels it would violate their privacy, he says that he has a strict "open eyes" policy on set.

"Everyone involved knows everything," Morris revealed. "I work extremely closely with them and make absolutely certain that every man knows every parameter and condition of a sex session. Unlike porn actors who work for other studios, the men I work with aren't in it for the money. I pay less than anyone, and often the men tell me not to pay them at all. Fairly often, men offer to pay me for the chance to be in front of my camera."

Decorated with a bloody skull and cross bones, Morris's website contains a series of essays penned by Morris himself. In an essay entitled "No Limits," he describes bareback sex as the "new closet," and estimates that nearly 50 percent of men he has spoken to not only engage in sex without a condom, but do so on a weekly, or even daily, basis. He goes on to say to describe a man he once interviewed who, after finding out he was HIV positive, engaged in bareback sex with over twenty men in one night, because he realized "life is limited."

This is the first of a two-part series on this vitally important topic. Next week: Empowering Students & The Risks of Coming Out Earlier