Poly Planet GAIA | ecosexual love | arts of loving | global holistic health | eros | dissidence: Position Paper
Showing posts with label Position Paper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Position Paper. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Assuaging AIDS Fears: The Eco-Sexual Arts of Sharing Love


In my observation, when science production is commodified for profit by the private interests of Big Pharma, what often happens is that most virologists become "of the virus party."  This literary expression implies that they may (inadvertently perhaps) start rooting for the viruses they are researching.  In this case, their commitment to put humans first and protect us from harm might slip to the back of their minds.  After all, if they can prove that the virus they study causes real harm, they may get the Nobel Prize.  This mindset is a betrayal of the Hippocratic oath that all medical scientists are sworn to, namely "first do no harm."  Why?  Because believing that one is ill can cause one to die.  Medicine CAN "do harm" and that's why the Hippocratic oath is still practiced.  In Greek, the word "pharmakon" means poison.  Next time you refill your meds, think about it.
(This theory is explained in "Of the Virus Party," a wide-ranging section of my book Gaia and the New Politics of Love.)

Jumping to conclusions about a putative pathogen can be good to a virologist's career. However, it is potentially harmful to humankind because human health is multifactorial and related to the emotional and physical ecology that surrounds human life. 


Testing anonymously can help one feel better and safer.  It can help assuage fears for oneself, one's partners, and partners of partners.  As a person who's been med-free for over 25 years now, I have come to rely on meditation, nutrition, healthy emotional and physical environment, good connectedness with self, a fulfilling and diverse amorous life, and inner balance, rather than testing and chemical drugs.  Attributing excessive significance to testing is not wise since by and large one's health is proportional to the strength of one's immune system rather than absence of exposure to pathogens.  Erotic, amorous, sensual, and affectional expression are big factors in the health picture of everyone.

What I bring to this conversation is also my experience as participant observer in erotic communities where resources of love are shared--and therefore abundant--as in those that practice some form of polyamory and/or bisexuality.  People in these communities typically have sex with a limited number of partners, sometimes simultaneously and over an extended period of time.  Typically this happens with full disclosure for all involved, including disclosure of number of partners and their health status.

My wisdom is that in these contexts, some measure of safer sex is highly desirable.  We live in a time when the foundations upon which human knowledge is based are shifting.  Not surprisingly, people's different understandings of STDs are not aligned enough for everyone to feel safe and comfortable otherwise.  Plus, not all diseases known to the public have a standard cure.


These are articulate degrees of protection.  My experience is that they help to preserve the health and safety of a given erotic community, in which different people have different degrees of vulnerability, with--as a general tenet--more medication more vulnerability.


(For readers with more curiosity about how my views have been attacked and how I interpret the genesis of AIDS in relation to cultural fears of anal pleasure, I refer to The G Tales, 1: What's in a Word? and 2: A Gut Feeling.)

My wish in expressing this pronouncement is to create more listening and understanding among all the different groups and agents that participate in cultural discourses of health, sexuality, and the arts of love.  We need interpretations of what constitutes health--including holistic sexual health--that reflect the experiences of those engaged in the practice of love.  My position is that when sexuality is practiced in ecological ways it is healthy.  This approach to AIDS tends to assuage fears and empower people to practice love.  This applies at the local and global level.

