Hey Girlfriends...let me holla at you a minute!
You are so precious, so vibrant, so beautiful and full of life. You are worth more than gold, diamonds, pearls, rubies, or any other fine jewel. And as such, you should do with yourself as those who are stewards of fine jewels. Protect yourself. Not just for you- but for me, for the ones you love, the ones who love you, and for future generations. African-Americans are dropping like flies. And it's all because we don't want to face facts and be truthful. We are contracting and spreading HIV/AIDS quick, fast and in a hurry within the African-American community. We have multiple sex partners while we make like we are monogamous. Our men have same sex partners that they keep carefully hidden. We are sleeping with men knowing they are on the down-low, on the up-high, in the closet, on the closet, and having sex inside his marriage. We are sexing outside our marriage, with friends, neighbors and strangers --all that crazy shenanigans--and we are not protecting ourselves. We don't want nobody 'in our business' -- and we surely don't want nobody knowing what (or who) we do. Why do we engage in such destructive behavior? Why take such a huge gamble with your most precious commodity? In the African-American community, it is notoriously known for that 'hush-hush sweep it under the rug' mess. You know, the old saying is that 'silence is golden'--but in this day of HIV/AIDS silence is deadly. Silence is killing us. And it's high time we realize that we don't have to die.
Let's talk woman to woman. We are becoming infected with HIV/AIDS at enormous rates. Our men have been in prison (hush), they are or have been i.v. drug users (sweep), they are or have been having sex with multiple partners (hush), both male and female( oh, hush, hush). Whatever the case, we are being infected by these men by the thousands (sweep). The highest rate for new reports of HIV/AIDS is black women between the ages of 18-44. From 2000 through 2003, HIV and AIDS rates for African American females were 20 times the rates for white females.
There are several factors that play a role in these high statistics. First of all, there are biological factors. The way that we are made, our reproductive system, makes it easier for us to contract diseases. In other words, because we are penetrated, we are more susceptible. There are also several behaviorial factors that put us at risk. We have sex at an earlier age than other races, we tend to have multiple sex partners and/or multiple concurrent sex partners, we tend to have older male sex partners, we tend not to ask questions, and if we do, we tend to trust whatever our man tells us. Understand me now, and don't get me wrong. I do not stand in judgment. I offer the facts as they are--and assert that knowledge is power. When you know better, you do better. And when you do better, you are better. The better you are, the better your community. So looking at stats on the fact of 1) Sexual Activity: By age 19, 77 percent of all American females have had vaginal sex; the proportion climbs to 92 percent by age 24. Among black females, 76 percent have had vaginal sex by age 19, 89 percent by age 24. 2)Multiple Partners/Concurrent multiple partners. We tend to have sex before marriage, with several people. Sometimes we have sex with several different people during the same time period. 3) Older Male Partners and other social factors. We tend to date older men because they are more mature, can take care of us, and give us money, a car, jewelry, or other material things, and we look for fatherly guidance. We also tend to be pretty gullible, believing that doing anything and everything that he says constitutes us being a good woman. We put our lives in men's hands. And what that means is that we put our lives in jeopardy. Take this story into account:
You are so precious, so vibrant, so beautiful and full of life. You are worth more than gold, diamonds, pearls, rubies, or any other fine jewel. And as such, you should do with yourself as those who are stewards of fine jewels. Protect yourself. Not just for you- but for me, for the ones you love, the ones who love you, and for future generations. African-Americans are dropping like flies. And it's all because we don't want to face facts and be truthful. We are contracting and spreading HIV/AIDS quick, fast and in a hurry within the African-American community. We have multiple sex partners while we make like we are monogamous. Our men have same sex partners that they keep carefully hidden. We are sleeping with men knowing they are on the down-low, on the up-high, in the closet, on the closet, and having sex inside his marriage. We are sexing outside our marriage, with friends, neighbors and strangers --all that crazy shenanigans--and we are not protecting ourselves. We don't want nobody 'in our business' -- and we surely don't want nobody knowing what (or who) we do. Why do we engage in such destructive behavior? Why take such a huge gamble with your most precious commodity? In the African-American community, it is notoriously known for that 'hush-hush sweep it under the rug' mess. You know, the old saying is that 'silence is golden'--but in this day of HIV/AIDS silence is deadly. Silence is killing us. And it's high time we realize that we don't have to die.
Let's talk woman to woman. We are becoming infected with HIV/AIDS at enormous rates. Our men have been in prison (hush), they are or have been i.v. drug users (sweep), they are or have been having sex with multiple partners (hush), both male and female( oh, hush, hush). Whatever the case, we are being infected by these men by the thousands (sweep). The highest rate for new reports of HIV/AIDS is black women between the ages of 18-44. From 2000 through 2003, HIV and AIDS rates for African American females were 20 times the rates for white females.
There are several factors that play a role in these high statistics. First of all, there are biological factors. The way that we are made, our reproductive system, makes it easier for us to contract diseases. In other words, because we are penetrated, we are more susceptible. There are also several behaviorial factors that put us at risk. We have sex at an earlier age than other races, we tend to have multiple sex partners and/or multiple concurrent sex partners, we tend to have older male sex partners, we tend not to ask questions, and if we do, we tend to trust whatever our man tells us. Understand me now, and don't get me wrong. I do not stand in judgment. I offer the facts as they are--and assert that knowledge is power. When you know better, you do better. And when you do better, you are better. The better you are, the better your community. So looking at stats on the fact of 1) Sexual Activity: By age 19, 77 percent of all American females have had vaginal sex; the proportion climbs to 92 percent by age 24. Among black females, 76 percent have had vaginal sex by age 19, 89 percent by age 24. 2)Multiple Partners/Concurrent multiple partners. We tend to have sex before marriage, with several people. Sometimes we have sex with several different people during the same time period. 3) Older Male Partners and other social factors. We tend to date older men because they are more mature, can take care of us, and give us money, a car, jewelry, or other material things, and we look for fatherly guidance. We also tend to be pretty gullible, believing that doing anything and everything that he says constitutes us being a good woman. We put our lives in men's hands. And what that means is that we put our lives in jeopardy. Take this story into account:
"He was, Precious Jackson said, a very fine black man. He was 6 feet 2 inches tall with an almond-milk complexion, dreamy dark eyes and a deep voice. During their nearly two years together in Los Angeles, he was the sunshine of her life, even though he had a habit of landing in jail and refused to use a condom when they made love.
"I didn't ask him any questions," Jackson said in a recent interview. "I didn't ask him about his sexual history. I asked him if he had been tested, and he said one test came back positive but another one came back negative. I was excited to have this man in my life, because I felt I needed this man to validate who I was." The man is now Jackson's ex-lover, but the two are forever attached by the AIDS virus she contracted from him."
Precious trusted this man. He gave her a gift. The gift that keeps on giving. Her life is in jeopardy--if she gets a cut, a cold, any infection--her immune system is further compromised.
Now, I'm not looking at the moral implications of having sex outside marriage, gay or lesbian activity and such--those topics are a totally different blog entry. But what I'm doing is looking at this situation as someone who cares about the health and well-being of our community. On the moral tip, we all know that God is watching. And guess what? we still will do what we do regardless or morality/immorality. However, my point is...if you like to do it then you should put a condom on it. Yes, wrap it up-- put a jimmy on it. (plastic wrap, saran wrap, aluminum foil if you have to.) AND DO NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER. Your life depends on it! Since the man/men you are sleeping with will not protect you, then it's YOUR JOB to PROTECT YOURSELF. DON'T listen to no sob story about how uncomfortable it is and that he can't feel anything. DON'T even let him snivel about how if you trusted him, you wouldn't ask him to wear a condom. DON'T entertain him when he says he ain't got no rubbers, or how he ain't got no money, or how he ain't got time to go buy them. ( He got money and time to buy beer, don't he?) If you still choose to have sex after all of his excuses, then YOU be prepared. Pull out your own condom. That's right!! If you big, bad, and bold enough to lay under him --or sit on him-- then be big, bad, and bold enough to pull out a Trojan!
"I didn't ask him any questions," Jackson said in a recent interview. "I didn't ask him about his sexual history. I asked him if he had been tested, and he said one test came back positive but another one came back negative. I was excited to have this man in my life, because I felt I needed this man to validate who I was." The man is now Jackson's ex-lover, but the two are forever attached by the AIDS virus she contracted from him."
Precious trusted this man. He gave her a gift. The gift that keeps on giving. Her life is in jeopardy--if she gets a cut, a cold, any infection--her immune system is further compromised.
Now, I'm not looking at the moral implications of having sex outside marriage, gay or lesbian activity and such--those topics are a totally different blog entry. But what I'm doing is looking at this situation as someone who cares about the health and well-being of our community. On the moral tip, we all know that God is watching. And guess what? we still will do what we do regardless or morality/immorality. However, my point is...if you like to do it then you should put a condom on it. Yes, wrap it up-- put a jimmy on it. (plastic wrap, saran wrap, aluminum foil if you have to.) AND DO NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER. Your life depends on it! Since the man/men you are sleeping with will not protect you, then it's YOUR JOB to PROTECT YOURSELF. DON'T listen to no sob story about how uncomfortable it is and that he can't feel anything. DON'T even let him snivel about how if you trusted him, you wouldn't ask him to wear a condom. DON'T entertain him when he says he ain't got no rubbers, or how he ain't got no money, or how he ain't got time to go buy them. ( He got money and time to buy beer, don't he?) If you still choose to have sex after all of his excuses, then YOU be prepared. Pull out your own condom. That's right!! If you big, bad, and bold enough to lay under him --or sit on him-- then be big, bad, and bold enough to pull out a Trojan!
Or better yet, get yo azz up and go home-- or if he at your crib, send him on his way. ( You ain't gotta home, baby, but you gotta get the helloutta here!)
But sisters, seriously. It's imperative. We must talk to one another. Mothers talk to your daughters--big sisters, talk to your little sisters. Aunts, cousins, girlfriends, play cousins,--
TALK!!
Don't know what to talk about?...how about this! Here are 3 REASONS TO USE A CONDOM!
- Since 1981 more than 750,000 cases of AIDS have been reported in the U.S.(Source: The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)
- In the United States, more than 65 million people are currently living with an incurable STD. (Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control Centers)
- More than one in five Americans is infected with genital herpes.(Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control Centers)
SOURCES
live -----like you're simply beautiful.
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