HEALTH EDUCATION
True stories about kids and AIDS
It is very easy for many of us to believe that no one
we know has HIV. Only a few of us have friends who have told us that they
have it. But it is very likely that we do know someone with HIV. It’s
just that some kids who have HIV are afraid to tell anyone. Others just
don’t know they have it.
HIV hides in the body for a long time. It usually takes 10 years or more
before a person gets sick. That’s why:
• Most kids who have HIV don’t know it.
• Most kids who have HIV don’t look sick.
• Most kids who spread HIV do it before they know they have it.
Here is a true story about how some very decent kids
got HIV ...
Famous last words #1
Next Friday at 3:00, a doctor is going to tell Cheryl that she has AIDS.
She had heard all about how to avoid getting AIDS. She just figured it
couldn’t happen to her. She was just 15. She didn’t know anybody who had
it. And Billy was so-o-o hot.
They said Billy was into heavy drugs. Maybe it was true. All she knew
was that his smile filled every empty place she had in her. If only he
would take her seriously, notice her, treat her like a woman — like
he treated the others. If only ...
Then one day, he smiled at her.
Later, when he put his arms around her, she thought the world would be
OK forever. He didn’t say much. He just held her, gazed deep down inside
her and told her she was beautiful. She felt so good when he was near
her, she would do anything to keep it that way.
They had sexual intercourse. Only once. He didn’t use a condom. She couldn’t
bring herself to say she had one with her. Her friend Tanya had given
it to her — "just in case."
But Cheryl didn’t dare bring it up. What if it turned him off? What if
he got angry? What if he walked away? What if he made fun of her? She
said nothing. She thought, "Maybe, just this once without protection
won’t matter."
She was so worried about what might happen, she really didn’t enjoy having
sex with Billy. But she always heard you don’t enjoy it the first time
anyway. She just hoped she wouldn’t lose him.
But she did lose him — to drugs. He was even sharing needles with
the junkie who got him the stuff. Finally, Billy just ran off. Nobody
knew where he went or how he was doing.
That was seven years ago.
After Billy, there was one other time Cheryl thought, "Maybe, just
this once, it won’t happen to me." That time, she got pregnant. She
didn’t know she was already infected with HIV. Little Danielle is almost
a year old now.
Next Friday, when the doctor tells her she has AIDS, Cheryl won’t have
time to figure out how she got it. She has other things to worry about
now. She has to worry about staying alive. And taking care of her baby.
And praying her baby doesn’t develop AIDS, too.
How about you?
• What would you do if someone who really turned you on started putting the moves on you?
• What would you say?
• Would you have sex just to get someone to pay attention to you?
Famous last words #2
Next Friday at four o’clock, Tanya will learn that her friend Cheryl has
AIDS. Cheryl will call her as soon as she leaves the clinic.
Tanya remembers the time she gave Cheryl a condom to use "just in
case." Cheryl said she already knew all about condoms and AIDS. Tanya
told her, "It doesn’t matter how much you know about it. What matters
is what you do about it."
She really hoped Cheryl would take her seriously. Tanya knew how important
a condom could be.
There was a time when Tanya, like Cheryl, took chances. She thought, "I’m
a good kid. It’ll be OK this time — it can’t happen to me."
But when she missed her period, Tanya went to a family planning clinic
for a pregnancy test. She was 16, and she had no idea what she would do
if she were pregnant. When it turned out she wasn’t, she was so relieved
she cried.
From then on, she decided not to take any chances with pregnancy or infection.
Tanya knew how Cheryl felt. There was a time when she thought Billy was
hot, too. But when he made his moves on her, she was ready. He said he
didn’t want to use a condom. She figured he was just embarrassed about
not knowing how, so she helped him put it on.
Tanya felt hurt when she realized that, for Billy, she was just another
one-night stand. Later, when she heard he was fooling around with needles,
she was glad she didn’t let the guy talk her out of using a condom.
That was eight years ago. Now, she is glad that Billy is out of both their
lives.
On Friday, Tanya will let Cheryl pour her heart out. She can’t imagine
what it must feel like to be told you have AIDS. She is frightened for
Cheryl. But she will tell Cheryl that she’s a friend no matter what. She
will do whatever she can while Cheryl’s ill. And she will make sure that
someone looks after the baby the way Cheryl would want.
How about you?
• How would you tell a sexually active friend to insist on using condoms?
• How would you tell someone you already have had sex with that you want to start using condoms?
First the good news
More than half of teen men who are sexually active used a condom the last
time they had sex.
Now, the bad news:
Every day, thousands of teenagers take their chances with AIDS. They have
risky sex or share needles — or both. In fact, more teens than adults
get HIV from straight sex.
More bad news:
Right now, thousands of teenagers across the country have HIV and don’t
know it. And there’s no cure and no vaccine for HIV or AIDS.
Famous last words #3
On Thursday morning at 11:00, Jason’s doctor will tell him he has AIDS.
He won’t be surprised. He’s been ill with an HIV infection for over a
year, and he’s been getting sicker and sicker.
When he was 16, Jason was real good about practicing safer sex —
most of the time. But one night he got so drunk that he ripped the condom
taking it out of the package. He only had one. The other guy didn’t have
one and didn’t care. Jason was so sexually excited he figured, "Just
one more time won’t matter." But it did.
That was five years ago. Jason never knew the guy’s name. And he doesn’t
know that the guy died of AIDS three years ago. Now Jason is 21 and very
sick. His new lover’s sick, too. Jason and Billy got a place together
almost a year ago.
After years of fooling around with any woman who would let him, Billy
was surprised he could care about a guy. But he did.
When they met, Jason was real up-front about his HIV infection. They only
had safer sex. But it was too late for both of them. Billy was already
infected from sharing needles in high school.
Billy will never know he gave Cheryl AIDS seven years ago. There are many
years and many miles between them now. Billy’s grown up a lot. It would
break his heart to know the sad part he played in so many other lives.
How about you?
• Have you taken risks with sex?
• Was it worth it?
• Is there anything you can think of that would be worth risking AIDS for?
What are my chances of
getting HIV?
HIV is hard to catch, unless you take risks. It’s safe to hug, kiss, and
share clothing, sandwiches, swimming pools, showers, or toilets with people
with HIV. Food, drinks, pets, bugs, and the air we breathe are all safe
— they don’t pass HIV.
How could I get AIDS?
You get AIDS by letting HIV into your body. Don’t take risks:
• Do not have unprotected vaginal or anal intercourse.
• Do not share needles or syringes.
• Do not get blood, semen, or vaginal secretions into open sores or wounds caused by needle stabs, bruises, or disease.
For more information about
AIDS?
Call the toll-free AIDS hotline: 1-800-342-AIDS.
Famous last words #4
Next Friday at 5:00, Tanya will call Raoul and tell him that their friend
Cheryl has AIDS. She will pick him up after work and take him over to
Cheryl’s. She knows he’ll want to be there for Cheryl and
the baby.
At 15, Raoul hated the way the other guys made fun of him for being uncool.
But he had plans. They could choose for themselves how to live. He would
choose for himself. When it comes to AIDS, he knew, we all have to protect
ourselves. But his friends didn’t make it easy.
Once, Billy found a box of condoms in Raoul’s car. For years after,
they called him "Rubber Man." They put him on about how "Real
men didn’t use rubbers," and "Only gays get AIDS."
He said they didn’t know what they were talking about. They laughed
at him. He was glad they never knew he had decided not to have intercourse
yet. The condoms were there for if and when he changed his mind.
Raoul did have sex, though. He called it "outercourse." He and
his partners found ways to reach orgasm without intercourse. There were
several women before Tanya, even one guy. He really enjoyed having sex
with them.
The years went by faster than anyone could have believed. Now Cheryl had
AIDS. Someone said Billy was very sick. A couple of other kids they went
to school with had it, too.
Raoul cries on the way to Cheryl’s. He’s sad for Cheryl and
her baby. He’s so glad that he and Tanya made the right choices
and protected themselves from AIDS.
What about you?
• What are some of the things you would do for a friends with AIDS?
• Is there anything you can do to help your friends protect themselves against AIDS?
HIV risk comparisons
NO RISK — Continuous abstinence from sex play and needle use. Masturbation.
VERY LOW RISK — No reported cases due to these behaviors:
• Mutual Masturbation
• Touching — Massage
• Erotic Massage — Body Rubbing
• Kissing — Deep Kissing (no blood exchanged)
• Oral Sex on a Man with a Condom
• Oral Sex on a Woman with a Dental Dam, Glyde® Dam, or Plastic Wrap
LOW RISK — Rare reported cases due to these behaviors:
• Oral Sex
• Vaginal Intercourse with a Latex or Female Condom
• Anal Intercourse with a Latex or Female Condom
HIGH RISK — Millions of reported cases due to these behaviors:
• Vaginal Intercourse without a Condom
• Anal Intercourse without a Condom
• Sharing Needles
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