Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Day 131: Of two Minds

Hey everyone, thanks once again for reading Let's Talk About PrEP. I'm really excited that since I have started writing this account of my experience on PrEP that there seems to be an increase in the number of people I have seen talking about PrEP and more importantly I have seen a lot more people who say they are talking to their doctors about PrEP. Word is getting out and people are realizing that Truvada as PrEP is a valid option in HIV prevention. Awesome!!!

This brings me to something I have been trying to decide how I feel about for a while. As PrEP gained some notoriety, something disturbing came along with it. The term Truvada Whore started to be used by many who were trying to degrade those who were taking PrEP. This stigmatizing term is a way of ignorant people slut shaming responsible people who were being proactive in their own protection. This seems no different than the recent comments I mentioned in my last blog about PrEP being a "Party drug." The Truvada Whore term was intended as a derogatory attack. Since then there has been a campaign to reclaim the derogatory term as many have done before. An HIV counselor in San Fransisco has even made t-shirts. Now many people feel this is a great way to take back the term. I, however, am on the fence about how I feel about this campaign. I definitely see the fun side of taking the term and freely using it as a way to rebel against the stigma. On the other hand, rather than embracing the term I would much rather see it be eliminated from our vocabulary all together. I feel that no mater the intentions of the shirts and advertizing this term, using "truvada whore" just seems to further the negative stigma surrounding the use of PrEP. Create a new term, start a campaign against the term, or just ignore it, the less attention paid to it the better in my mind.

Now please don't take this as an attack on any of you who have purchased this shirt, or supported this campaign which is absolutely going to a good cause, but rather view this as the other side of the dialogue. I will not be making the purchase, but I would love to hear what you all have to say about this topic. Are you a #truvadawhore supporter or do you feel as I do? I don't really think there is a wrong side to this debate, just two different approaches to the same problem, the stigma surrounding PrEP.