A Hypothetical Question

[Guest FinalDL2021]

I am not really sure this is the right forum location, but here goes.

I have been bare backing for almost 2 years now, and in that time I have been wondering about when I first started having sex with other men ( my first phase), between 1988- 2007.  I would not really describe myself as being  a slut. I met guys online, about 5 to 7 times a year; we fooled around, and I ended up bottoming, or having receptive anal sex ( with a condom). 10 years later, I mustered up the courage to go to a bathhouse ( Watergarden in San Jose, CA.)  where I continued to satisfy  my Homosexual Yearnings.

Getting to the point;  would I have ended up being infected with HIV during that time-frame, if I was barebacking/having raw sex, instead of being a condom Nazi?

[Guest]

Probably more so then than now

Most,  if not all, men are either undetectable or on Prep.  So far that has been my experience 

you have to remember this forum is a very small subculture and is not reflective of most HIV+ men

[wood]

There’s almost no way to accurately answer this question because there are way too many variables to consider. However think of it this way.  Receptive anal sex with an HIV+ partner who is not undetectable is know to have approximately a 1-3% chance of infection.  However health professionals hate quoting those stats, because even with those stats there are tons of variables, was good lube used, was your adding good health otherwise, did you have any other STI’s, how large was your partner, was it rough, etc.  Also assuming you don’t know your partners status, even at the height of the epidemic after testing began, probably 40-50% of guys we’re still negative.  Additionally your location matters, some areas had much higher infection rates than others, Further complicating things is that in the late 90’s ARV’s became common and people were becoming undetectable. Because of all of that it’s virtually impossible to know. 

If I had to guess I would say you would be most likely to be infected from 88-99, if it was going to happen, but even that is a wild guess. Another factor to consider is that despite what some in this forum think, in the late 80’s and even into the early 2000’s, it wasn’t always easy to find guys who would play raw, and if they did it was often only with a partner. Overall my best guess is that you would have had a 50/50 chance of becoming poz, but again that’s a wild guess. 

[Guest FinalDL2021]

On ‎4‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 2:01 PM, wood said:

There’s almost no way to accurately answer this question because there are way too many variables to consider. However think of it this way.  Receptive anal sex with an HIV+ partner who is not undetectable is know to have approximately a 1-3% chance of infection.  However health professionals hate quoting those stats, because even with those stats there are tons of variables, was good lube used, was your adding good health otherwise, did you have any other STI’s, how large was your partner, was it rough, etc.  Also assuming you don’t know your partners status, even at the height of the epidemic after testing began, probably 40-50% of guys we’re still negative.  Additionally your location matters, some areas had much higher infection rates than others, Further complicating things is that in the late 90’s ARV’s became common and people were becoming undetectable. Because of all of that it’s virtually impossible to know. 

If I had to guess I would say you would be most likely to be infected from 88-99, if it was going to happen, but even that is a wild guess. Another factor to consider is that despite what some in this forum think, in the late 80’s and even into the early 2000’s, it wasn’t always easy to find guys who would play raw, and if they did it was often only with a partner. Overall my best guess is that you would have had a 50/50 chance of becoming poz, but again that’s a wild guess. 

If I had a time-machine, I would probably have cut loose with my fear and inhibitions after I turned 30, which would have been in 1998.

thanks for  your thoughtful response

[Guest]

On 4/8/2019 at 11:48 AM, Guest FinalDL2021 said:

I am not really sure this is the right forum location, but here goes.

I have been bare backing for almost 2 years now, and in that time I have been wondering about when I first started having sex with other men ( my first phase), between 1988- 2007.  I would not really describe myself as being  a slut. I met guys online, about 5 to 7 times a year; we fooled around, and I ended up bottoming, or having receptive anal sex ( with a condom). 10 years later, I mustered up the courage to go to a bathhouse ( Watergarden in San Jose, CA.)  where I continued to satisfy  my Homosexual Yearnings.

Getting to the point;  would I have ended up being infected with HIV during that time-frame, if I was barebacking/having raw sex, instead of being a condom Nazi?

Wow, your sexual  history sounds a lot like mine, and I often look back and wonder, what would have happened if I went through the 80's and 90`s going  bareback 100% of the time