by yoursl | Nov 19, 2015 | HIV and AIDS, Sex in the News, Sexually Transmitted Diseases |
Charlie Sheen became the talk of the nation’s press once more, but not for his usual reasons. During a live interview on The Today Show on Tuesday, Sheen announced to the world that he is HIV-positive. The 50-year-old actor was accompanied by his University of California, Los Angles, physician, Dr. Robert Huizenga, who helped explain Sheen’s diagnosis and treatment during the actor’s interview. Sheen was diagnosed with HIV in 2011, during what he has said was a not-so-good time in his life. Since his HIV diagnosis, Sheen has taken daily antiretroviral medications, which has lowered his HIV viral count to such a low level, less than 20 copies of the virus in his blood, that the virus itself is undetectable in HIV blood tests. Even in a patient with a low viral load, HIV lives in reservoirs inside that person’s body. To keep these virus reserves from spreading and to continue to maintain a low viral load, the infected person must take daily antiretroviral therapy or the virus will begin to spread inside the body again. Sheen maintains that his low viral load means he cannot pass HIV to another person, even if he has unprotected sex with that person. This is partially true. Studies have shown that HIV positive persons taking daily antiretroviral therapy have just a four percent chance of passing the virus to an uninfected person during unprotected sex. There is one thing Sheen, and anyone else living with HIV, should do for ethical reasons and must do per the law in 24 American states, including Sheen’s home state of California: tell potential sex partners he...
by yoursl | Nov 5, 2015 | Dating/Relationships, Just For Fun |
I sat down and researched the history of bondage photography with the intent of writing about its history and its impact on America’s sexual history and culture, but I kept getting distracted by thoughts of Thanksgiving. Coolest. Mom. Ever.’s favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. I take time off from work to spend an extra day with her, and we usually spend that time working side-by-side in the kitchen. I learned at an early age food is a form of love. It’s no wonder I am in a relationship with a partner who knocked down a wall to make the kitchen a more workable space and who bought a gorgeous range any chef would appreciate. I use that range every single day in living and well-established proof that “food is love.” This brings me to my partner, Dutch, who is the stuff of internet dating legend. I am quite open about how it took me 32 first dates to find Dutch and that I almost gave up the search for what is now one of the best gifts I have ever been given. Dutch’s love is just as precious to me as the gift of my mother teaching me to read and then encouraging me to read anything and everything available. Every day I am thankful for Dutch, for our relationship, for being able to come home to Dutch and for the amazing dates and adventures we have together. I recently pondered why our relationship has been so successful because it is the most successful of any relationship I’ve had up to this point. What makes Dutch and I’s relationship so different...
