The latex alternative
by Barbara Louise, MT
Based on lack of accurate information about the nature of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, there is a great deal of unnecessary hysteria about the AIDS epidemic in some parts of the lesbian community. I would like to clear this up. As a medical technologist registered with the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, I have been handling human blood for twenty-eight years. Until recently, I wore no protection at all on my hands. I have never even had hepatitis, which I understand is four times easier to contract than AIDS. Here are the facts:
The AIDS virus is passed from one human being to another from blood to blood or from semen to blood. It is found in its infectious form in no other fluids of the human body. (This is logical because no other fluids of the body are designed to keep living cells alive.) Pus from pimples and other infections may be dangerous as well because they contain blood cells.
The HIV can enter the human body only through a break in the skin. It then enters the nuclei (the cells' "command center") of T-cell lymphocytes and begins to disrupt the body's immune sys-
tem.
The easiest way to get AIDS is either to let someone deposit semen in your ass, tearing the delicate tissues, or to share a bloody needle with another person. So lesbians who don't use needle drugs or engage in occasional sex with men are in little danger. Most people get AIDS by infection. However, there still remains a small chance of contracting the virus through a break in the skin of your hands or your mouth while engaging in ordinary
lesbian sex.
Dental dams, the latex squares used by dentists, have been presented in much of our literature as the ultimate answer to safe sex for lesbians. I believe this is a bad idea for two reasons.
First of all, few of us are able to eroticize the taste of latex, and are very reluctant to give up the delicious taste of rubyfruit* (cunt) juice in our sex lives. No barrier to the virus will work if we don't use it.
Secondly, in my opinion, these dental dams are not really safe. Our juice is extremely slippery and will escape around the edges of the latex square. To illustrate the difference in the effectiveness of an intact condom versus a latex square in holding liquids, half-fill a glass with water and then pour the same amount onto a dinner plate. Now, holding one in each hand, run down the street for a block. Which liquid spills?
Remember, a woman will not catch the AIDS virus from another woman unless she has a break in her skin through which the virus can enter. Therefore, before you have sex with another woman, vigorously rinse out your mouth with vodka. Swish it around between your teeth, over your tongue. Suck your fingers, run your mouth over your hands, and if nothing stings, then you have no breaks in your skin, no tiny unseen cuts, no hangnails. Inspect the skin on the rest of your body, applying vodka to doubtful places. Have her do the same. Never put vodka in your vagina or up your ass. (If you are a recovering alcoholic, try very salty water or a 3 percent solution of hydrogen peroxide. Do not swallow! Swallowing hydrogen peroxide can make you extremely sick!)
If the vodka stings in your mouth or on your face, do not drink her rubyfruit
FIGHT HOMOPHOBIA
September, 1990
juice. Wait a few days until you heal. And even if you have no cuts in your mouth, don't go down on her while she's menstruating heavily. (There's no point tempting fate.) Also, never go down on a bisexual woman who doesn't use condoms. She might have semen in her vagina.
If you have a cut on your finger, wear a fingercot (little "condoms" for the finger, available from medical supply stores or Eve's Garden), or latex gloves, for cuts elsewhere on your hand. Cuts anywhere else on your body should be covered with waterproof plastic tape, not an adhesive bandage, which has holes.
If you share a dildo with your partner, use a new clean condom for each fuck. Never transfer vaginal fluids from one
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A
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woman's vagina to the other'snot with a dildo, not with your fingers. I understand most cases of a woman catching AIDS from another woman have been because they shared the same dildo.
If you fuck a man, use two condoms (in case one breaks). Use condoms every time, even for fellatio.
Every time you have sex, use your brain beforehand. Think about your vulnerability! Understanding how the virus is passed from one person to another taking a few simple steps to protect yourself and your partner is far better than blindly using latex like a magic charm.
(*Rubyfruit is a synonym for cunt, from the novel, Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown.)
BY ANDREA NATALIE
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