There has been a lot of hoopla lately about this study. The problem is, everybody seems to focus on the support, for or against the study. That’s politics, and fine, if that’s what is important to you. But when I saw this study, one fact stood out strongly.
Only 74% of the men questioned in the study said they didn’t have HIV.
Does that mean 25% of gay men do have HIV? Let’s take a closer look at those numbers and see what the study reveals. Then compare that to other studies.
The Association between Penis Size and Sexual Health among Men Who Have Sex with Men
According to this study of gay men in New York City:
74.6% said they didn’t have HIV
12.5% admitted they had HIV
9.9% said they were never tested
3.1% refused to answer.
We can read between the lines a little bit here. Why would anyone refuse to answer? I’d say either they have HIV and don’t want to admit it, or they have never beet tested and don’t want to admit that. Of course, maybe some of them knew they didn’t have it but refused to answer for some unknown reason. Either way, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and put their numbers in with the other unknowns that were never tested.
No matter how you slice this, the results are the same as another well known previous study: HIV and AIDS among Gay and Bisexual Men, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from September, 2010, which also confirms that about one in five gay men (men who have sex with men) do indeed have HIV.
So, whether you are in support of government funds going to prove how the size of a man’s penis affects his social status or not, the numbers are very consistent:
One out of five gay men have HIV.
As for the politics of this, I find it outrageous that, at a time in our Nations history when we should be curbing spending we are wasting valuable tax dollars on how a man’s penis size affects his social status.
Cort Kirkwood at The New American has a great piece which highlights some more ridiculous government spending.
Even the LGBT Weekly found it somewhat preposterous with this title: The government wants to know your penis size – seriously.
And if that doesn’t make you laugh out loud, be sure to check out I Hate the Media’s take on it: What a Bunch of Dicks- $900,000 in grants to study penis size in the gay community.
I just love to find a story like this, then browse the news and blog sites to see how people react on an issue. There’s always a general talking point from Conservatives and Liberals. Then there’s the independent thinkers. To me, that’s the story.
This particular study allows for a lot of funny titles. Like this one from Hot Air- Feds paying to study gay men’s, er, packages.
Ken Skaggs is an author, educator, entrepreneur, radio announcer, web designer, web marketer, musician, trucking safety expert, SEO specialist, and business owner- in other words, a dreamer.
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