We may not talk about it or see it on movie screens, but sex and romance continue to play an important role in many people’s lives as they age. Some who have lost a long-term romantic partner are starting new intimate relationships for the first time since the HIV epidemic began. And some older adults have multiple partners or may be involved with someone who is not monogamous.
Certainly, since the advent of protease inhibitors and the real progress in antiretroviral medication, the ability to treat HIV infection and slow down the progression to serious illness and death is very real. However, the disparity in being able to reap the benefits to the treatment advances is also very real in the United States, and certainly when one looks at the global epidemic. Health care is still very much a privilege and not a right, so a person’s socio-economic status affects the degree to which he or she has access to the medications. There are racial disparities in health care which make the ability to take advantage of the medications an issue of race. So, the disparities that we have in our society continue to play out in the AIDS epidemic. [...]
Choosing not to have sex or share needles is the most effective way to avoid possible exposure to HIV, but there are other very effective ways to reduce the chances of transmission and increase your chances of staying healthy. [...]
Casting Call for NYC Bus Shelter Campaign
The Graying of AIDS is excited to be working in collaboration with ACRIA on a new NYC-based HIV and aging awareness bus shelter campaign. While previous awareness campaigns have often used professional models or pictured individual older adults, the 2014 “Age is … Read More…
Here at The Graying of AIDS we think it’s a problem that we rarely see older adult intimacy in our media – it suggests that older adults aren’t sexual, or that their bodies should be hidden; on the … Read More…
As we mentioned in our last blog post, earlier this year The Graying of AIDS worked closely with New York City-based AIDS research, education, and advocacy organization ACRIA to create an intimate portrait series of older adults – alone and with “partners” – on “Age is Not a … Read More…