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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Condoms do not protect you form aids/HIV

143 replies

maypole1 · 25/07/2011 22:44

THIS IS WHAT WAS POSTED BY A MN

I was posting about how the pope could save lives by saying yes condoms are ok then I got these as replies to my post.
Do people really believe this ????????????

ShockShock

maypole1 - condoms do not prevent HIV/AIDS.

maypole1 - I assume it is my comment you are refering to as stupid. Tell me this, do condoms prevent pregnancy.

OP posts:
LRDTheFeministDragon · 25/07/2011 23:07

maypole, your thread title is really confusing - it reads as if you are arguing the opposite to what you seem to be saying in your OP. Your other thread about immigrants is the same. You'll be less likely to get a bunfight if you try to match the title to what your view is - I don't know if you're a newbie but most people read the titles on this section to be the opinions of the OP.

Hope that helps and doesn't confuse further.

DialMforMummy · 25/07/2011 23:07

HIV could happen to ANYONE who has had unprotected sex. It only takes one shag.

Birdsgottafly · 25/07/2011 23:09

Not everyone, especially the less educated, believes or trusts what the doctors say across Africa, you cannot just blame the Catholic church.

There was recently a thread about why people in Africa are still having large families and it was shown that the reasons for this are stil mainly cultural and nothing to do with Catholic influence.

Original poster
maypole1 · 25/07/2011 23:10

Birds but if the pope sanctioned contraception at the very least these women could take the pill.at least their would be no children born in to he HIV or aids

OP posts:
NotADudeExactly · 25/07/2011 23:10

No, condoms are not 100% effective, but ...

... the overwhelming majority of failures are due to user error. Which is to say that they could be made a lot safer if more of an effort were to be undertaken to show people - especially the vulnerable - how to use them properly.

What is definitely never going to prevent anything at all is preaching that "only abstinence" will prevent undesirable outcomes, whether STIs or pregnancy. In theory this might work - in practice people have always had and will always be having sex. Better just to deal with that reality than to develop solutions that might work in an imagined "ideal" world.

moonferret · 25/07/2011 23:11

Having unprotected vaginal sex with someone known to have HIV/Aids only has a 1 in thousands chance of giving you HIV/Aids. With a condom, this chance will reduce to 1 in millions I'd have thought...

Birdsgottafly · 25/07/2011 23:12

The African people who are HIv positive also want children and nothing will convince them otherwise, so it is more difficult than it seems.

HIV positive parents are producing HIV positive children.

Indaba · 25/07/2011 23:12

I do not understand the OP.

So lets get down to business. Condoms good or not?

Living in South Africa, I know yes,good.

OP what your thoughts?

hiddenhome · 25/07/2011 23:14

'OP what your thoughts?'

Incoherent and badly typed Hmm

DialMforMummy · 25/07/2011 23:14

Some people are more likely to be at risk but yes, it's anyone. How do you know what your partner has been up? And how does he know what whoever he slept without protection been up to?
It's a mistake to think that it's only an African/gay condition.

DialMforMummy · 25/07/2011 23:16

HIV positive parents are producing HIV positive children.
Not if they get treatment during pregnancy.

Birdsgottafly · 25/07/2011 23:16

OP i think that contraception should be encouraged but it is not the only answer.

There are different strains of HIV and some deplete the CD4 count of the person faster and the viral load goes up quickly, so it is quite complex.

Also it isn't safe for two people who are HIV positive to have sex, as is believed by many.

I was told this by a consultant who has just returned.

NotADudeExactly · 25/07/2011 23:17

HIV positive parents are producing HIV positive children.

... which is also not inevitable in a large number of cases. True, some mothers transfer the virus to the foetus during pregnancy. A far greater number if infections happen during or after the birth. And there are measures that can be taken to minimize the risk of transmission, e.g. treatment of the mother.

Also perhaps a better way for the church to help than the moralising?

Birdsgottafly · 25/07/2011 23:18

Dial- we are focusing on poor areas of Africa and they are or have been.

As i said just recently people rejected drug treatment because a doctor preached that taking vitamins was all that was needed, in some areas people are very confused.

Original poster
maypole1 · 25/07/2011 23:18

Yes condoms good but others don't seem to think so apparently which just made me a little confused I thought the natural family planning method and gone out with the 40s when their was no their was no other way to stop having 10 kids

OP posts:
Birdsgottafly · 25/07/2011 23:19

The OP needs to be clearer as the situation in Africa is very different to the one in the UK.

DialMforMummy · 25/07/2011 23:20

What "poor areas" of Africa are you talking about then?

AnnieLobeseder · 25/07/2011 23:21

hiddenhome - perhaps English isn't Indaba's first language. A bit rude to criticise someone's typing for not particular reason.

Birdsgottafly · 25/07/2011 23:21

OP- the problem is that people in some areas still want big families and not always to the same men. So preaching birth control isn't the only answer.

hiddenhome · 25/07/2011 23:21

Natural family planning is very popular. A lot of women don't wish their body to be flooded with artificial hormones or want something shoved into their body cavities Hmm

hiddenhome · 25/07/2011 23:22

AbbieLobeseder I wasn't directing that comment at Indaba, it was about the OP who appears not to be able to express themselves very coherently.

Original poster
maypole1 · 25/07/2011 23:24

Sorry I was talking about the stance the church takes in africa.

And I was just shocked people think people should simply not have so many partners and condoms don't work any way

It's not that simple as many African women cannot refuse sex with their husband and also Africa has a high rate of rape

At the very least the pill would stop more children being born to already sick mothers

I know their are other issues but the pope saying contraception is ok would go along way to help

OP posts:
Birdsgottafly · 25/07/2011 23:25

Dial- this was taken from another thread by the OP, Botswana and generaly sub-Saharan.

Male adult circumscion puts the risk up to 60% more, so we need a range of intervention to stop the spraed..

twinklypearls · 25/07/2011 23:25

I have not read the thread and cannot be bothered. I am the last person to defend the Pope but did he not recently say that condoms could be used to prevent the spread of HIV if it were used for its health benefits rather than as a contraceptive. Admittedly he did use the rather strange example of a male prostitute.

AnnieLobeseder · 25/07/2011 23:25

Then why did you quote Indaba? Confused

OP didn't make huge amounts of sense to me either though, TBH.