If you’re visiting our blog and website for the first time, welcome!  Perhaps you ran into us distributing condoms and information cards on the street, or maybe you picked one up from a display basket at a local business.  I’ve spent the last couple months learning everything there is to know about condoms.  Here are some of the gems, Trivia-style:

1) Besides the obvious, how do soldiers, engineers, filmmakers and paramedics use condoms?

2) Before Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber in 1839, what were condoms made of?

3) An ancient version of a female condom appears in the legend of Minos, dating back to 150 AD.  When did the first known real-world condoms appear?

4) What is the earliest known example of “condom testing” and who performed it?

5) What does Gabriele Falloppio (the doctor who fallopian tubes were named after) have in common with King Louis XV and Giacomo Casanova?

6) In 1880, if somebody asked for “a little something for the weekend”, what did they want?

(more…)

I was really excited my son was sick this week. Wait, that doesn’t sound the way it should. The whole sentence should read, “I was really excited my son was sick this week, as I got to hear an interview on a radio show that I can’t normally listen to until later in the day (work and all). If I’d turned it on at my usual time as I was leaving work, I would have missed it.” That’s better. So what’s got me so excited? Research looking at seniors and HIV.

Researcher Katie Mairs presented findings on Wednesday at the Ontario HIV Treatment Network conference in Toronto. I wasn’t in Toronto, but later that day heard her co-researcher Sandra Bullock on CBC’s On the Coast talk about their findings. It seems that snowbirds going down south to escape Canadian winters may come into contact with more than a heckuva lot of sunshine. Almost three hundred seniors were surveyed, and 80% said they were sexually active and dating (8% of them while married) down South. Yet they weren’t using condoms on a regular basis at all. The research found that those who don’t think they’re at risk for pregnancy don’t think a condom is necessary. True enough if you’re thinking solely of reproduction. But for STI prevention, a condom is a fantastic tool.

This research is asking questions of a population that can be sorely underrepresented in sexual activity/ sexual health findings. Being post-menopausal doesn’t make women less likely to get STIs (in fact, it can increase the risk), and HIV prevention information is important in this age group. According to Mairs, HIV prevalence among US residents over 50 is highest in Florida. With a “holiday” attitude that is easy come easy go, sexual choices could put people at risk. It reinforced the importance of the work we’re doing with our You Should Know campaign, which is aimed at women over 40.  It’s great that this research might open more avenues for discussion, make way for education, support doctors and patients to talk. STI prevention is important, no matter what the age of sexual adventurers.

Janet

This blog represents the ideas of individual writers, and does not necessarily reflect any formal stance taken by Positive Women’s Network.

I’m secretly excited about the prospect of H1N1 becoming known as Hini (pronounced “heenee”).  I’ve heard it a couple times now and hope that it catches on.  I normally take flu season in stride, but like most people, I’m following the situation a bit more closely this year.  It’s a relief to find small ways to laugh and joke about it, like the Hini title and last spring’s Zombie Flu spoof.  Once you’ve had a chance to chuckle, check out these slightly more serious guidelines for people living with HIV/AIDS, released by the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.  They clearly outline how to identify, prevent and treat H1N1.

(more…)

I’ve worked at PWN for 16 years now, and it’s been an incredible privilege to do so. I’ve seen the treatments options for HIV develop, change lives and make new generations possible. Most importantly, I’ve been witness to many women’s stories. I have been the lucky ears to hold the details of diagnosis, disclosure, and adjusting to life with HIV. I’ve heard fears and uncertainty. I’ve heard about challenges met and managed, discovered love, babies. My latest project, You Should Know,  is partly based on the gift of these many stories.

(more…)