now you're just pulling straight bullstuff out of your ass
n the USA, the UK, and a number of other European countries, HIV and AIDS have affected young gay men more than any other group of people. In the UK and USA especially, the percentage of young gay men who have been infected with HIV and the percentage with AIDS is much higher than other groups such as heteroloveual people or children.
In the USA, it is estimated that nearly 255,000 men who have love with men were living with HIV/AIDS in 2007, and nearly 5,400 had died. Around 48% of all people diagnosed with AIDS in America in 2007 were probably exposed to HIV through male-to-male loveual contact.1 In the UK, by the end of June 2009, around 45,947 diagnoses of HIV had been in men who had probably become infected through love with another man. 53% of these men were aged below 35.2
There are also other parts of the world where men who have love with men, many of whom do not identify themselves as gay, are affected by HIV. For example, the primary HIV transmission route in Latin America is love between men. In Brazil, men who have love with men accounted for 40% of all AIDS diagnoses among males between 2000 and 2005.3 In some cities in Colombia, estimates of HIV prevalence among men who have love with men range from 10% to 25%.4
Despite the continuing impact of HIV & AIDS there are signs that awareness is waning among young people. For example, research with British teenagers has shown decreasing awareness of HIV & AIDS.5 The same pattern of increasing prevalence and decreasing awareness exists for STIs as a whole and many young people, including young gay men, may underestimate how likely they are to be exposed to loveually transmitted diseases including HIV. There is also evidence that in some places, even where they are otherwise well-informed about HIV and STIs, young people do not believe that they are vulnerable to contracting them.6
In the UK the numbers of young people with chlamydia, gonorrhea and genital herpes has risen by more than 100% since the 1990s.
Hey, I'm not saying you can't. It's just what comes with it.
