[UK Sauna Slut] Barebacking and HIV

[JoshLandaleXXX]

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You may remember back in January I was interviewed by Cristian Knox for his blog.* He uploaded the video to his site and I posted a link to it here on Confessions Of…

After much effort (my internet connection isn’t up to much I’m afraid), I’ve finally managed to upload the video to my fledgling YouTube channel, and here is the video, embedded for you all to see.

The interview covers various aspects of my blog, from the sex I have, to why I started the blog, how being diagnosed with HIV has effected me, how I deal with my critics (and trust me they are numerous!), to my plans for the future.

For those who know me personally, the interview may not add a lot new. But for those of you who’ve seen my videos on xtube, read the blog here or follow me on twitter, it should provide you with a further insight into me as a person.

It was filmed in Chariots Sauna in Shoreditch, London in mid-January 2012. We took over a small cubicle in the sauna, and it was filmed on Cristian’s iphone.* Hence the pretty poor video quality (it’s dark in saunas don’t you know).* However, as Cristian said in his own blog, it’s the audio that matters most.

Granted this is now a few months old, but I promised I would embed it here, and now I come true on that promise.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As always, I’d love to hear your comments and thoughts about the interview.

Thanks to Cristian for sending me the file and allowing me to post it here, and for conducting the interview in the first instance.

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In other news, I was recently asked by a member of Canadian HIV magazine, positivelite.com if I’d be interested in writing a guest piece for them.* I’d love to do this, but am struggling to think of a suitable unique angle on which to write.

Do I look at my own acceptance of HIV long before diagnosis?

Or the culture of bug chasing/gift giving that seems to be getting much more prevalent?

Or perhaps a piece on why gay men bareback, from the perspective of a committed barebacker as opposed to an “outsider”?

I’m not sure yet.* I need some help in deciding which angle to come from.* If you’ve any suggestions, I’d love to hear about them.

Positivelite is an online magazine website for everyone living with HIV, affected by HIV or involved in activism.* It brings together voices from around the world to give us a stronger voice when it comes to looking after what’s right for us.

I recently got an email from a reader who said that seeing as I was now posting about HIV issues, he would no longer be logging on and reading the blog.* He himself was HIV+ he explained, and logged on to escape the reality of living with the virus.* Whilst it is sad that I have lost a reader as a result of what I write, the fact is that HIV is now a part of who I am, and as such, a part of my barebacking journey.

I do not regret being HIV+, I do not mourn for my negative status.* My writing about HIV is not part of me adjusting or accepting the situation; I did all that many years ago before I started this journey.* I vowed to write honestly and openly about the sex I was having, the people I had it with and the places I had it.* A part of that, means that I also write about issues which affect the barebacking community.* Like it or not, HIV is a part of that community. Whilst in the previous years it was something that i skirted around, mentioning it occasionally, or perhaps alluding to, it is now something which sits firmly at the fore of my barebacking adventures.* It is with this in mind that I am keen to write about HIV, as only through tackling it head on, and talking about it can we reduce the stigma of it.

If we sweep it under the carpet, pretend that HIV has nothing to do with bareback, then we simply make the situation worse.* I hope you agree with me. What are your thoughts?* I’d love to hear them.

Josh x

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