Checking oneself out in the mirror can crumple even the strongest woman. Some wee voice influenced by the “perfect woman” images from ads is bound to offer some critical comment about where you’re lacking: hair, nose, weight, eyes, skin colour…. It’s energy zapping and totally non-productive. Healthy self-esteem affects sexuality and can affect safer sex practices. So what to do? Challenge yourself to change your inner voice and celebrate with a “Damn you’re fine girl” kinda rant that begins with your feet. 

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Here at PWN we talk to a lot of people on the phone, particularly after a splashy international AIDS Conference like the recent one in Mexico. We talk about what’s risky and safer sex, or pregnancy …. etcetera. It can go like this:

“Positive Women’s Network, Janet speaking.”
“Hello?”
“Hi. How can I help you?”
“Um, I’m calling for a friend who is freaking out cause she thinks she might have AIDS. Can I ask you a couple of questions?”
“Sure.”  And so it goes.

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Is it possible that we are gathering incomplete statistics about HIV risk factors because the wrong questions are being asked? Two microbicide advocates, Marc-Andre Leblanc and Dr. Kate Morrow examine this question as their research on women and anal sex challenges presumptions behind the “heterosexual contact” risk category.

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It’s sleepy summer, but soon the phone will start to ring a lot more, the anticipation in women’s’ voices. Retreat time is approaching (September 26-28), and everyone wants in. It makes sense: retreats are weekends of learning, connection, and comfort. Not bad for going away with a bunch of strangers.

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Shimmers of heat rising from the sidewalk and millions of conversations bouncing around the city: the seventeenth International AIDS Conference will take place August 3-8 in Mexico City. The first international meeting was in 1985, when the group gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, home of the American Centre for Disease Control. It was CDC scientists who were key players in identifying the pattern of symptoms that came to be known as GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency) and later, AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). The international conference has evolved from a group of scientists puzzling through a definition of AIDS in Georgia to a  stew of scientists, activists, journalists, students, educators, social scientists, you name it.

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