And I agree, it is a strange sight. I mean even “normal” couples who don’t engage in “deviant” behavior might contract AIDS and those posters do send the wrong message. But I must give them one thing – it’s an eyeopener, for sure.

The below quote where Maxwell explains the group’s motive behind the bathhouse trips is quite upsetting:

“There are some men who may come out into the community and not be aware of all the ways in which men may meet other men for sex,” he said, stressing the men were taken there during the day, free of charge, so they could be informed before getting into potentially unsafe situations themselves.

This is just messed. Sexual health-wise it’s like a straight guy being taken to a brothel to ‘become a man’. I’m with Churchill on his stance. As for the cards, well, the group has bigger problems…like how noone’s reading the cards because they’re all busy going to bathhouses.

I wonder if the bathhouses donate $$$ to the group?

TORONTO — A director of the AIDS Committee of Toronto has resigned, accusing the organization of launching a safe-sex campaign that is anything but safe — at a time when the number of gay men testing positive for HIV is rising in Ontario.

There are interesting parallels to the discussion above – one side of the argument is

“[The campaign] acknowledges that they are activities that people may engage in. The cards provide information about the risk and then about how people can reduce that risk,”

The other side counters with

“As a board member, I had the responsibility to exercise judgment,” … “But if you attack sexual freedom in any way, you’re a pariah. I just didn’t feel comfortable because I was challenging them on prevention education.” … “You’re not teaching them how to act responsibly. You teach them that there are bathhouses and they’ll get laid anonymously.”

.

it is totally obvious that they are referring to the days of the menstrual cycle just prior to the period.

Again – does it make sense to ask a woman whether it’s ok to have sex between periods? Even a village idiot would know the answer.

So now we have two options: Either they promote pre-puberty sex for girls, or they are complete idiots. Take your pic.

The whole purpose of these types of organizations is to EDUCATE. The insinuation that “even a village idiot would know the answer” is the exact kind of thing these people are trying to avoid.

People are embarrassed or feel awkward to ask questions about sex to which they do not know the answer and feel stupid for not knowing. You would BE AMAZED at the amount of misinformation and half-truths that are out there about sex even amongst undergrad college students. A superiority complex of ‘everyone-should-know-this’ does not help.

I wish I were a special agent!! However, I don’t wish I was an accountant, and nor do I pretend to be one

Sigh.. so much homework and reading here at Sepia Mutiny! After watching the Office for the clean-shaven turban guy (was a terrorist remark, btw), now I have to read an annual report?!!! And don’t even start with the one time I watched the Apprentice to see what the Toral Mehta hoopla was about. The agony you put me through!!!

K, I didn’t put this in a spreadsheet or anything – just glanced, so don’t take this as authority…. Their income statement is VERY general, but the 80% definitely isn’t what it seems. Firstly, this is a not-for-profit service industry, not a manufacturing industry, so their overhead is def not comparable to manufacturing overhead. In my recollection, the expenses here aren’t outrageous compared to similar industry benchmarks. 2nd, there are at least 8 people on staff – living in Toronto is expensive, so let’s hope these 8 people have other jobs to support themselves. 3rd, alot of the job titles indicate research, training, education, and marketing functions – all a part of the service they are providing. I don’t sense a missapropriation of funds, if that’s what you were trying to imply. If someone can deduce anything more significant from the brief income statement, I’m open to hearing it.

Whether these ads are effective or not is another question. I don’t find them offensive, but like some others have noted, the older first generation need education, too – maybe more so. Lead Crow makes some good points.

Now, must go back to Tiger Singh documentary on the CBC. I will hand in a signed sealed delivered copy of my report on said documentary, tomorrow… heh heh.

Also, there are a couple of brown guys who sleep with guys who think that sleeping with other brown guys is somehow safer. It’s an incredibly dangerous and ignorant belief, but it exists, so an ad that kind of says, “Hey, if you’re screwing a guy named Raj, you need to use a rubber anyways,” is useful in that respect.

This is true for desis gay and straight. It is quite common for a partner to assume that the guy is from a “good” family and therefore unlikely to have dipped his quill in a high-risk inkpot.

Back in the 90s I know a couple of “bi” desis in New York who contracted HIV. They worked in investment banks and came from “good” families in Delhi and Mumbai.

One was being pressured to get married. Very tragic.

Among 2gens you’d be surprised how many hushed up abortions 16 year olds are having these days. (If you have a gynecologist relative in the family who works in a community with a large number of desis, he/she will confirm.)

We all know how one can know everything imaginable about STDs and still do stupid things under emotional coercion or just out of laziness or stupidity. So in that sense I’m glad these folks exist.

for your information hiv/aids spreads by infection. that is, someone who is infected with it may spread it to someone who does not. consequently, helping people to determine whether they are infected or not is an integral part of preventing the spread.

got it?

thanks.

as for the rest of your points – whatever.

peace

1) On the posters’ inappropriateness, a little bit of context: as others have pointed out, you can only really find these particular ones on campuses/sexual awareness centres (and queer brown events, of course), where they’re not likely to cause much scandal.

Beyond that, here’s some posters from a campaign from ACT (the “main” AIDS/HIV organization in the city). Almost as risque as the ASAAP ones, but these in fact posted up in Bloor/Yonge station a while back (on the Bloor-Danforth level at least), which is one of the busiest if not the busiest subway station in the city.

After seeing that, a couple of not-quite revealing photos of brown people getting all touchy-feely posted in the campus sexual health office seem pretty inconsiquential.

2) To build on comment 63 by Ennis, which I totally agree with: Not only do idealized sexual images appeal to the types of people outside of the pictured demographic, but there are older “uncle” or “auntie” types who would relate to the posters for other reasons.

What I mean is that there are plenty middle-aged, married, seemingly conservative brown fellas, who, if discussing these posters in public, or around family, or whatever, will say, “Oh, these are weddy, weddy bad! Those sick perwerrrts are trying subwert morality with this filthy pornography! And they do it in public, the nerwe of these people!”

But the instant their wives, kids, family, pandits, priests, etc. aren’t looking, they’re off taking part in gay brown threesomes.

I’ve encountered a lot of these types in this city, and I think there’s a possibility that this campaign can appeal to them as much as it does liberated uni students, and besides, these folks need it more.

3) As for the fact that there are only brown people in the ads, as some comments have pointed out, this is more transgressive. Especially with the same-sex pics, seeing as there’s quite a few brown people who like to think that queerness is a Western “disease.”

Also, there are a couple of brown guys who sleep with guys who think that sleeping with other brown guys is somehow safer. It’s an incredibly dangerous and ignorant belief, but it exists, so an ad that kind of says, “Hey, if you’re screwing a guy named Raj, you need to use a rubber anyways,” is useful in that respect.

Lastly, and this is anecdotal, it’s probably a little related to the “sex sells” concept. In my experience, a lot of queer brown guys seem to prefer other brown (or Latin, Middle-Eastern or Southern European) guys to “white” or black or yellow guys.

Now as I said, totally anecdotal, as far as I know, there could be a whole world out there I don’t know about of brown dudes who want nothing better than a smooth blond guy with a small nose.

(And admittedly, that doesn’t explain the lesbian and bisexual posters, but I think if you combine it with political correctness concerns, it could.)

All that said, I can’t say I’m the biggest supporter of Asaap. Frankly, Besharam is a disaster, and their reaction to the whole Fashion Cares brouhaha was both silly and embarrassing.

(Apologies for any other commenters’ points I may have repeated, and for any typos I might have made.)