Logic and Fear

If you've ever watched a cat try to cross a street, you're seeing a monumental failure of evolutionary adaptation and real world risks.  Cats come to the edge of the street, crouch low, and scurry across, avoiding large pouncing predators and diving hawks.   Of course, in a world where slow moving Toyotas is the biggest "predator" to avoid, looking both ways and carefully crossing would be more adaptive.   Maybe in a few million years.

On the same theme, every Spring and Fall, the Discovery Channel regales us with "Shark Week."  People all over the world are terrified of sharks, and watch in awe of monsters, including people living in Kansas, Manitoba, Paraguay, and probably Mongolia, where shark attack is about as realistic a fear as being burned by a fire-breathing dragon.

Still, like our feline friends, we are programmed to be afraid of predators, snakes, and disease.  It is adaptive behavior to be afraid of illness, some types are contagious, and best avoided.

So, when someone is afraid of the spectre of HIV, it is instinctive, and can be part of an effective program of avoiding infection.   Avoiding infection is a very good thing, and I'm all in favor.

Now, that question of relative risk.   While you may slightly reduce risk by avoiding even safer sex with an HIV infected partner who is undetectable with HAART, you may be taking far bigger risks, if you are having unsafe sex with men who claim to be negative.    Unsafe sex between "negatives" is a very dangerous act, as the recently infected are the most dangerous, and the least likely to be aware.   If meth is involved, well, no need to say more.

I'm not urging anyone to have sex in any situation that makes them uncomfortable.  I am suggesting that you do really effective things to reduce the risk of infection.  Reduce your number of sexual partners, avoid intoxication with sex, and use a condom, every time.

Otherwise, your UB2 thing is not effective protection.  And it will come back to bite you.