This iReport is part of an assignment:
Women: Share your stories of change
About this iReport
- Posted February 24, 2013 by
- GirlsTalkTV Follow
Location
Washington, District of Columbia
Washington, District of Columbia
Assignment
 |
More iReports you should see
Living in Fear of HIV/AIDs
I remember first hearing about AIDs; it was a huge deal and I was petrified. All I knew is that I didn’t want to die at a young age from having great sex. In my mind you could get it with one slip up; one slip of it touching me or entering my body without protection. And in my mind getting tested wouldn’t always give you correct results. So like a porn star, I was literally getting my doctor to test me for STD’s several times a year; with our without a partner. I was extremely paranoid but that was in college and then this 80’s baby could say “I’ve never had an STD”.
Post graduate status I had calmed down but soon learned news about a few exes. One was super bi and another had been seeing someone other than me (and oh how we shared fluids). All of the fear and memories came back haunting me: I’d dated an African guy, I’d just found out that the guy who I had been dating for 8 months lied to me about his age so I clearly couldn’t trust him…I mean I was a slight wreck. So, I began getting tested like a porn star again.
I’ve read that HIV can go undetected for years. Recently I’ve read it takes weeks after sleeping with someone who is infected for it to show up on a test. I’m not really big on trust so I struggle with both pieces of information. I’ve even heard of people getting false positives and I just read an article saying that 2 tests are necessary to confirm HIV/AIDs status. I didn’t recall learning any of this stuff in H.S or college and it just didn’t seem like a big deal to anyone anymore. So, I had a ton of questions and decided it was time to get answers.
I went out in search of a few experts on the matter. I interviewed an expert in the field who had worked with HIV/AIDs patients for over 20 years. I even interviewed a science teacher. Still searching for answers I sought to find a woman I could talk to. I wanted to find a woman with the virus who I could ask questions and just know her story. Two weeks ago I found her.
I’m Gigi Smith, the Executive Producer of Girls Talk TV. I had a lot of questions about this and was hoping there were others out there like me since lately I’ve been feeling like no one’s taking this HIV/AIDs thing very serious. We’re out their nailing like rabbits and not thinking of other consequences besides getting pregnant. What about dying from an STD people? Or what about catching an STD and becoming infertile? These are questions I have and so I decided to produce a show on them. Bridgette, is the woman I found who was diagnosed with the virus at 19 years old. Vance is the professional I spoke to with over 20 years of experience. This week we work with the Whitman Walker clinic to demonstrate the Rapid HIV Test. I invite you all to tune in to this special as March 10 is “Women and Girls HIV/AIDs Awareness Day”. Bridgette has agreed to travel and speak to women and girls about this very serious topic so please learn how you can help us spread this message at http://girlstalktv.org.
Post graduate status I had calmed down but soon learned news about a few exes. One was super bi and another had been seeing someone other than me (and oh how we shared fluids). All of the fear and memories came back haunting me: I’d dated an African guy, I’d just found out that the guy who I had been dating for 8 months lied to me about his age so I clearly couldn’t trust him…I mean I was a slight wreck. So, I began getting tested like a porn star again.
I’ve read that HIV can go undetected for years. Recently I’ve read it takes weeks after sleeping with someone who is infected for it to show up on a test. I’m not really big on trust so I struggle with both pieces of information. I’ve even heard of people getting false positives and I just read an article saying that 2 tests are necessary to confirm HIV/AIDs status. I didn’t recall learning any of this stuff in H.S or college and it just didn’t seem like a big deal to anyone anymore. So, I had a ton of questions and decided it was time to get answers.
I went out in search of a few experts on the matter. I interviewed an expert in the field who had worked with HIV/AIDs patients for over 20 years. I even interviewed a science teacher. Still searching for answers I sought to find a woman I could talk to. I wanted to find a woman with the virus who I could ask questions and just know her story. Two weeks ago I found her.
I’m Gigi Smith, the Executive Producer of Girls Talk TV. I had a lot of questions about this and was hoping there were others out there like me since lately I’ve been feeling like no one’s taking this HIV/AIDs thing very serious. We’re out their nailing like rabbits and not thinking of other consequences besides getting pregnant. What about dying from an STD people? Or what about catching an STD and becoming infertile? These are questions I have and so I decided to produce a show on them. Bridgette, is the woman I found who was diagnosed with the virus at 19 years old. Vance is the professional I spoke to with over 20 years of experience. This week we work with the Whitman Walker clinic to demonstrate the Rapid HIV Test. I invite you all to tune in to this special as March 10 is “Women and Girls HIV/AIDs Awareness Day”. Bridgette has agreed to travel and speak to women and girls about this very serious topic so please learn how you can help us spread this message at http://girlstalktv.org.
 |
|
|
| This iReport is part of an assignment that we created with : Women: Share your stories of change | ||
What do you think of this story?
Select one of the options below. Your feedback will help tell CNN producers what to do with this iReport. If you'd like, you can explain your choice in the comments below.
Be and editor! Choose an option below:
More from this assignment - Women: Share your stories of change
iReport welcomes a lively discussion, so comments on iReports are not pre-screened before they post. See the iReport community guidelines for details about content that is not welcome on iReport.
© 2013 Cable News Network. 
Comments