HIV-blocking gel for women

Good point. :) It would be possible to sneak it, I would think. Can't exactly sneak a condom, can you?

do you really think that these rapacious men who dominate these women as they would allow these women to use any sort of medicine like this? why would they care, when they clearly don't already.

We are talking about Africa. Many of the men work in mines or out in fields. They are with prostitutes during the week and on the weekends they come home to their wives. The wife could go to the clinic that was being run, say by a charity or some community response organization, pick up the gel. Before her husband comes home she could easily, without him even knowing, insert the gel into her vagina. Although the men dominate the woman, they can't be an all seeing eye on them either.

But even better than the gel is the HIV Immunity Vaccine. The woman goes to the clinic to get a shot that makes her HIV immune for 72 hours. This is already a viable treatment and it is being used in the United States already for people who have had an oops (condom broke, accidentally got stuck with a needle, etc). It is an intramuscular injection and uses HIV medications that have been around for a long time and are far beyond their original patent periods.

Again this was kept from the people in Africa because of the reasons they kept the gel away; LICENSE TO FORNICATE.

It didn't.

what? mine was a comment about easy women and the insane idea that birth control means we're all free to fornicate indesciminately... which some would say is WHY we now worry about things like AIDS, I disagree there, but still think that we (as a culture) should be more selective and prudish when it comes to the people we bed down with.

I totally agree with your comment, insomuch as I do feel people should be selective about who they sleep with, and I find it admirable that you feel that way. But unless I'm missing something here, this is not a form of birth control, it is a gel that inhibits HIV. Also, it was not created with our free-thinking sexual culture in mind, but rather: "This is important – particularly in resource-poor areas of the world like sub-Sahara Africa and south Asia where, in some age groups, as many as 60 percent of women already are infected with HIV. In these places, women often are not empowered to force their partners to wear a condom." Furthermore, the article stated, "Due to cultural and socioeconomic factors, women often are unable to negotiate the use of protection with their partner."
I totally dig what you're saying, it just doesn't really apply in this situation.

ok, yeah sure in places like africa... but really look at it. who in africa will be getting this gell or treatment? not really anyone, with trade embargos, and sanctions we're not allowed to send medicine or technologies to most countries who could benefit from such a thing.. not to mention that most of these women who aren't allowed condoms wouldn't be allowed this gell either. I just think the solution is cultural and scocial, not technological.

You may well have me on that one, friend. I have no idea of the logistics of getting it to those places or if they could. Well put. I hope they can, though, because, like you said, here we have a choice. If some of those women do not have a choice, because maybe men just hate condoms but this gel wouldn't inhibit their pleasure... It sounds like a pretty good idea to me. I mean, wouldn't that be great?

Totally cute doggy, by the way. Thanks for allowing for a nice, rational exchange of ideas. That seems to be harder and harder to do around here. :)

"mine was a comment about easy women and the insane idea that birth control means we're all free to fornicate indesciminately... which some would say is WHY we now worry about things like AIDS, I disagree there"

If you disagree, then why did you even post about it in the first place? Because the way you posted about it REALLY makes it sound like you support that theory.

True, but that doesn't mean the rest of us need to suffer for other people's disregard for everyone's safety.

Sorry, why is it WOMEN that should not be sleeping with 50 people?

I do believe that on continents like Africa it is the MEN who are raping women, and it is the MEN who are refusing to wear condoms.

This isn't about promiscuous women, this is about finding a solution to the cultural and religious barriers that prevent the proper precautions from being taken.