I was driving along EDSA in Pasay recently and I noticed this attention-grabbing billboard along the southbound side facing west and near Pasay Rotonda. It had a bunch of silhouettes of sexy men and women with the words “Red Light Special” and a web address: http://www.redlightspecial.com.ph. I found the whole thing intriguing so I noted the URL down.
I thought it was some racy promo for San Miguel or another beer or some fashion show like Bench’s. But when I visited the website, it turns out to be an advocacy website for having safe sex, most especially of using condoms. It does not only concentrate on HIV/AIDS but touches also on other STIs. It even includes a list of medical institutions nationwide where you can have yourself tested for various sexually-transmitted infections. I think that this is quite a commendable effort but I’m troubled by the lack of any indication on who is behind this. Maybe they’re avoiding the wrath of the Catholic Church? Then again, the Church did not stop DOH Secretary Esperanza Cabral from championing the cause of reproductive health, right?
One other thing that’s really troubling me with this website is that it says quite dangerous things! On its risk assessment page, the site declares that for oral sex between men with no ejaculation, there is “no risk for HIV, possible STI parasite risk.” The HIV part is not true! Pre-ejaculate fluid contains HIV and if the receiver has mouth sores or gingivitis, and especially if the oral sex is rough or if the receiver has braces, there is a non-negligible risk of fluid exchange leading to HIV infection! Saying that there’s no risk at all is very irresponsible.
So, while I admire the effort to inform people about sexual risks and using a sex-sells strategy to get people’s attention, I really cannot accept the fact that it contains wrong facts! What do you think?
Update (Oct 30): A commenter said that the website has now updated its information such that the information presented is no longer incorrect. Good for them!
4 comments:
Oral sex – with ejaculation (between men): risk to receptive man?
Low to moderate
You are as soon to be dead wrong as an AIDS patient! Get your facts straight. The site did not indicate "no risk". It indicated low to moderate risk. Big difference man!
Oral sex – male to male, no ejaculation: risk to receptive man?
Low risk for HIV, possible STI parasite risk
Same anonymous guy still. This is actually the part you are referring to. Still wrong. It says Low risk, not "no risk".
@anon, thanks for the update. I guess the website has seen the light and updated their incorrect information. Good for them! I also see that they qualified the risk to indicate just the receptive man (though no word on the man doing the giving).
the site declares that for oral sex between men with no ejaculation, there is “no risk for HIV, possible STI parasite risk.” The HIV part is not true! Pre-ejaculate fluid contains HIV and if the receiver has mouth sores or gingivitis
it says "for oral sex between men with no ejaculation" with NO EJACULATION emphasis on that, there is no risk. pre ejaculate fluid will die due to saliva.. saliva is known as normal antibacterial/viral. (IG-A)so what they say is true.
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