Lack of awareness around HIV and AIDS has caused many different stereotypes that get associated with those living with HIV. A diagnosis of such is never easy. What makes it worse is the status with which individuals are looked at. Most of the time individuals with HIV are isolated and ill-treated. Gender stereotypes have also caused discrimination in terms of accessing better information and better medical facilities. An article by Healtline.com said, “HIV stigma doesn’t happen in a microcosm. It’s related to the fact that it’s a disease associated with people in the LGBTQ community and that has to change,” said Dr. Latesha Elopre, assistant professor of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

In another article by Healthline highlighted a common myth people have around HIV is that heterosexuals cannot be infected with it. However, the statistics show men who account for around 70% of the HIV cases engage in sex with other men. It does not eliminate the 24% of the other statistics from the heterosexuals among which two-third of them are womxn. Research also suggested that partners with HIV have a misconception that it is okay to engage in unprotected sex or not using a condom. Although, this can only be possible when partners are on regular antiretroviral therapy (ART) that helps in building a residence and increases the immune cells that were previously destroyed by HIV. The ART is known to help effectively, not risk transferring the virus to others.

However, the CDC recommended the use of condoms to avoid rare cases of superinfection which occurs 1 in 4 percent.People with HIV can no more be worried or feared about their sexual health as medications help in the prevention of transferring. HIV does play an important role in one’s sexual health but it does not limit one to not engaging in any sexual activities. The positive side to focus on while having HIV is with proper therapy and medications, the amount of virus load in the blood, semen, pre-cum, vaginal or rectal fluid is not enough to pass on during sex, thereby making it less risky. However, this does not limit one from taking safety precautions or have a false assumption of it cured. While proper information and awareness around HIV can help ease fear and anxiety in people with HIV, it can help boost up sexual self-esteem and help opening up about it to reduce stigma. Also, keeping in mind is honesty and consent. In cases where an individual has HIV, it can feel like a bad thing but it’s important to be open about it by joining support groups, meeting a counselor that can help with battling HIV emotionally for a better sexual positive life.

In an article by Vogue, Sunil Gupta, New Delhi-born, London-based, Canadian photographer said, “I’ve been out since I was a teenager and being gay is part of my professional life. In 1995, I met a guy that I was taken with, he was only just beginning to explore his sexuality. I went to get tested and the results for HIV came back positive. We stopped having sex shortly after and he eventually left me for fear of becoming my carer. For a while, I was the archetype of someone with HIV in that era. I’d never had a problem meeting people but there was so much anxiety and a fear of rejection all of a sudden—when I told a partner I was positive, they didn’t stick around for long. Finding out you have HIV is a shocking diagnosis, but I felt comforted being part of a broad social network of gay men that grew around me, partly through the Terrence Higgins Trust, who are knowledgable about HIV and not freaked out by it. There is a real sense of camaraderie”