Divine Intervention, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

March 18, 2016 Victor El-Khouri 1 Comment

Sexually transmitted diseases in the news!

Nearly every night, there are new reports about the spread of the Zika virus.  Originally thought to be spread by mosquitos, there is increasing evidence that the illness is also spread through sexual contact.   Because Zika causes severe birth defects in the children of women pregnant when they get the disease, it is especially frightening to anyone who wants to have children over the next several years.

As nearly as I can tell (Note: not a doctor), the virus is not particularly harmful to the people who have it.  That is, there are usually no symptoms, and we don’t yet have information about long-term effects.  The only ones who seem to suffer are the fetuses.

The kind of fetal damage caused by Zika is horrible.  Children are born microcephalic, with their heads (and brains) abnormally small.  These children will live lives much more limited than they would have without Zika, and will require constant care.  It is so horrible that Americans are being told not to go to places with a lot of mosquitos.  And efforts are underway to eliminate the specific kind of mosquito that carries the disease.

What’s not happening is that women are not being told to avoid sex with men.

This is a stark contrast to what happened more than 30 years ago, when we were in the midst of the AIDS crisis.  Many of us had flashbacks to those times last week, when Hillary Clinton mistakenly praised Nancy Reagan for speaking out against the virus.

What struck me (aside from such a brazen error) was that the reaction to Hillary’s comment was much more angry and vocal in the media than the Reagan’s actual silence about AIDS.  Perhaps the difference is social media (not really a thing in the 1980s).  Or perhaps it was Clinton Derangement Syndrome.

I mean, I lost a lot of friends to AIDS, and watched too many others lose jobs and apartments and families simply because of ignorance and fear.  At the time, I marched and organized to the best of my ability.  I was furious at the Reagans and their supporters, but I did not see my rage reflected in the media.  People in power used HIV to further their bigoted agenda.  To quote from this link:   “A significant source of Reagan’s support came from the newly identified religious right and the Moral Majority, a political-action group founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. AIDS became the tool, and gay men the target, for the politics of fear, hate and discrimination. Falwell said ‘AIDS is the wrath of God upon homosexuals.’ Reagan’s communications director Pat Buchanan argued that AIDS is ‘nature’s revenge on gay men.’”

I don’t hear anyone saying that about men who have sex with pregnant women, that we should round them up and subject them to quarantine.  Right-wing extremists aren’t claiming that Zika is nature’s revenge on pregnant women.

Speaking only for myself, I have mixed memories about my sex drive when I was pregnant.  Sometimes my hormones swung high, and sometimes my hormones swung low.  Being big and bulky didn’t make things any easier.  I don’t think I would have wanted to be celibate for my entire pregnancy, but I could have easily abstained from fluid exchange, if it saved my (very much wanted) child from severe birth defects.

No one in a position of authority is suggesting that men avoid intercourse with their pregnant partners.  No one is shaming them for wanting to have sex, the way gay men were demonized for their desires.  I’d like to believe that this is because we’ve evolved over the decades.  I don’t want to believe this is because of a double standard.

In the meantime, mosquito netting for everyone.

Media Goddess Martha Thomases hates hates hates mosquitos, even more than roaches.