Peepin inside your neighborhood HSV-centric print zine!
on STI visibility and inclusion:
I do not want to over-sensationalize the impact herpes has on one's life. Because honestly, I've found it to be pretty bearable. I don't love it, I could do without it, but it's fine. On an average day, my body hurts more from standing too long at my job than from having an incurable infection. But neither do I want to minimize the very real transformations that can occur when herpes enters our bodies. When it does, in a nearly synchronized motion, we are ejected from mainstream representation. Media's blueprints for sex and relationships don't account for us. Indeed, many of us already felt our kind of sex was un(der)-represented due to various aspects of our identity: perhaps because of our sexual orientation or physical makeup or non-conformity to the gender binary. Then how much harder it is when the image of a happy future with herpes as provided by the government and the medical establishment essentially consists of one relationship with one person for the rest of your life and you should just be grateful they accept you. Dream any bigger, child, and you'll be a public safety hazard.
on disclosure:
...There's so many ways to be sexy and intimate that don't involve genitals, fluid exchange, or skin-to-skin contact of affected areas. But otherwise if risk is present, give them the option to participate or not. Consider it part of regular ol' consent! Also, it's best to pick a time when the conversation isn't rushed and you're both in a good state (present, sober, etc). Allow them to think about it for as long as they need to...
...Conversations are 2-sided right? So after you say what's up, let them share their thoughts. Ask how they're feeling. Let them participate in guiding the talk so they can ask questions, share their perspective. Acknowledge their comments and feelings...
on consent and communication:
Eventually I was like "let me tell you why I said I couldn't fuck you yet." I told him that I had genital herpes, that it wasn't likely to pass on to him -- I hadn't shown symptoms in a while -- but he should know and take as long as he wanted to think it over. He said I was a good friend and that it was awesome that I shared that with him -- it even seemed like my honesty actually turned him on more! Pretty soon, we grabbed a condom, and we fucked hard...
on language:
Developing these drugs [actively aimed at suppressing HSV] was one thing -- selling them was another. Through strong, almost militant ad campaigns the pharmaceutical industry essentially constructed a market for their goods. They employed words like victim, suffer, attack, and outbreak to cultivate fear and justify the need for a counter-attack mentality. An infamous 1982 TIME Magazine cover epitomizes this new age of herpes stigmatization, dubbing the virus 'today's scarlet letter.' It is safe to say that the 'war on herpes' has been quite successful -- from the winner's perspective of course. This doesn't mean herpes is any less common (4 out of 5 Americans are carriers of oral herpes, 1 in 5 carries it genitally), it means that herpes is PROFITABLE, and the lexicon of the 70s and 80s persists along with the stigma of its making.
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