A two-year study at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston suggests that young men who don't disclose that they are bisexual are putting themselves more at risk for testing positive for the HIV virus.
The study at the Baylor Teen Health Clinic called this "a disturbing trend that highlights the importance of condom use." They studied 18 male patients who tested positive between 2007 and 2009 and found that most of them had sex with both men and women, but didn't identify as either gay or bisexual.
Dr. Ruth Buzi, the clinic's social services director, said:
"Many young men think it's easier to just keep quiet. They are not comfortable being open about their sexuality, and they are definitely not sharing this information with their partners."
The problem, according to Buzi, is that women are also at risk for sexually transmitted infections. And, the younger generation doesn't have as much of an experience with the severity of HIV/ AIDS like the generation of the late 1980s and 1990s when it was a death sentence.Buzi said that women need to insist on condom use before even having sex and:
"Teens and young men and women think they're invincible anyway, and on top of that, they don't view HIV/AIDS as a life-threatening disease because of the advances in treatment. They need to be educated on this and other sexually transmitted infections and on adopting behavior that will reduce their risk."
The study also points out that youth programs should encourage more openness about young mens' sexuality and being comfortable about their sexual identity.
That would encourage young men to be more responsible for their own health and more open with their partners.
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Comments
Such kind of knowledge and health forum for us LGBT should be more published in life. We LGBT should know more about it. we often talk about this issure online togehter with like-minded persons as those at~~B i M i n g l e . c o m ~~ to improve our special life, we also wanna have a happy and healthy life as you all do.
Actually it is unsafe sex and not using condoms and swallowing that puts people at risk for HIV, not being closeted.
This study is crap. You get HIV from a virus and from having unprotected sex, not from being a closet case.
Unprotected sex is the cause of the spread of AIDs/HIV, not hiding your sexuality.Also the reason guys are in the closet about their sexuality is because of how society treats gay/bi people. if you people want guys to come out of the closet so badly then find a cure for homophobia.
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