Q:
I’ve always disagreed with your position that oral sex is safe. You say it is; I say it isn’t. And here’s the proof. Donald L. Sodora, PhD, assistant professor of internal medicine, infectious diseases, and microbiology at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center in Dallas recently did a study on monkeys and found the AIDS virus quickly spreads from the mouth to the rest of the body. Here’s what he said: “The study shows that oral exposure to HIV is a way a person can hypothetically be infected. We know babies get infected from HIV in breast milk. So it is not a big stretch to think semen could infect you orally. … I don’t think this is a safer way to have sex.” By not urging people to have oral sex with a condom I think you’re a danger to our community, adding kerosene to the fire of this ravaging disease. I’d like an apology and a promise that you’ll warn people off oral sex without a condom.
— Pissed off
Dear Pissed Off:
You know how tired I am of that “oral sex is dangerous” bullshit? I’m Ethiopian tired. I don’t even have enough strength to wave the flies off the shit you’re buzzing around me.
First, that study was done on monkeys, not humans. I know we look alike (especially at Pride) but our immune systems respond differently.
It’s hard to get consensus from AIDS researchers on anything, but oral sex is one of them: It rarely spreads HIV. And when it does it’s almost always because you have a cut, scrape or irritation in your mouth.
At a World AIDS Conference, a well-respected scientist presented data from a study of 400 men whose only form of sexual behavior was receiving oral sex. Despite almost no condom use with multiple partners – many of them known to have been HIV+ — none, NOT ONE of the men came down with HIV infection.
“We had zero infections over 1,493 person-years of exposure to oral receptive sex,” the researcher told WebMD. “This doesn’t mean there aren’t factors that contribute to easier HIV transmission by oral sex. It does happen. But data confirm it is a pretty rare occurrence.”
Bottom line: As long as you don’t have cuts or scrapes in your mouth, you have a better chance of being hit by a bus than getting HIV through oral sex. If you want to cave in to AIDS hysteria, then fine, suck on a big one wrapped in a rubber. I’m sure it tastes delicious.