Dear O Sung Wu,

I have heard of "the Wall," and the type of activities
that go on there. I grew up in Sydney. Went to Uni there,
and had friends who lived in Paddington.

Today the covert sexual life of Sydney (including its many
brothels) still continues: the beat goes on ...

I think that education plays a crucial role in the fight
against HIV and AIDS. Our young people, women, and men,
need to be informed about all of the risks involved and
how HIV is spread. The following link is just a small
portion of what should be done globally:

http://gemreportunesco.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/education-plays-a-crucial-role-in-fight-against-hiv-and-aids/

Surely no-one is seriously suggesting that Australia is some Third World country that lacks education and on HIV/AIDS?

Although some might question if the education campaign has been too sensitive and indirect because some gays might take offence. For example, Foxy's excerpt seemed to imply that a whole mess of things could result in AIDS and as a causative factor, breastfeeding, mothers milk, is on a par with gay anal sex. Maybe there was better detail later to advise and make a more informed choice on the relative risks and likely consequences.

Should adolescent girls be encouraged to imagine that a sore behind from anal sex is as normal and carries the same risks as the mothers milk that sustained them as infants? If so, then the men who want to take advantage of them sexually, already have a head start in that department.

One wonders if the efforts to normalise gay sex might be reducing the very credibility and impact of the campaign to reduce and eventually wipe out AIDS?

Is it possible too that the availability of medication has encouraged more risky 'barebacking' by gays and is contributing to an ongoing pool of the disease? Has it instead become a campaign for federal funding for medication and hang the proactive stuff like condoms that limit the risk of contracting the disease in the first place?

Is it now, 'take the sex tour in Thailand and don't worry, the meds are available back in Australia for when things go wrong'?

It is hard to see how girls and young women have any alternative but to refuse point blank to have casual sex with a male who displays an interest in anal sex. As for women in long term relationships, what value do you place on his word? What other risk management might be reasonable and warranted where the risks to their own health and future childbearing are so high?

'evening to you FOXY...

One of my greatest disappointments, I've mentioned to you and others previously, was an eminent Jurist in the most powerful court in the land, often directed his driver to cruise past 'The Wall' on many occasions. Especially whenever they 'sat' in the Court complex, in Taylor Square, Sydney.

Detectives had their eye on him for months 'n months, yet still the big boss hadn't got the nerve or wherewithal, to order the pinch. This is despite his driver's statement as to this blokes dubious activities. It's all too late now no doubt, still it would've been a tremendous Brief to run with?

Dear O Sung Wu,

I can fully understand the frustration of the police
officers at that time regarding the covert sexual
life of the jurist you mentioned. Those were different
times, I guess.

Our society today
is a lot more open in certain respects and accepting.
It's probably easier today to not be judged by your
sexual orientation. Yet not so long ago being anything
but straight was considered abnormal to an extent of
being treated as a disease. Prominent people could not
dare to reveal their orientation in the fear of being
ostracized. There were so many Hollywood celebrities
for example who were unable to admit to being either
homosexual or bi-sexual.

People like Rock Hudson, Joan Crawford, Raymond Burr,
George Cukor, James Dean, Gary Grant, Montgomery Cliff,
Katherine Hepburn, just to name a few. We have our
very own - Ian Thorpe. I heard on the news that
Barry Manilow has finally come out of the closet and
admitted his sexual orientation.

cont'd ...

The following link may be of interest:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/z8bgr82

Alan Turing was a victim of mid 20th century attitudes
to homosexuality. He was chemically castrated before
he committed suicide at the age of 41. Male homosexuality
was illegal (until 1967) in the UK.

Alan Turing cracked the enigma code and helped the allies
win World War II. The Queen granted him a pardon (after
his death). I recently saw the film "Imitation Game,"
based on his life.

Thanks for the timely reminder of Alan Turing, Foxy.

It’s touching that so many here are concerned about the sexual health of gay men, but the intolerance that it’s inspired by is a far greater danger to them. o sung wu, who has has seen what can happen when society's intolerance pushes a group of people into unhappy relationships and underground, can attest to that.

It was a stroke of bad lack that a practice that is (quite presumably) practiced by gay men more often than it is by any other group turned out to be more risky. What some here don't seem to realise, however, is that it says nothing about the virtues (or lack thereof), or rightness or wrongness of homosexuality. If there were a relationship there, then lesbian oral sex would be riskier than heterosexual oral sex.

Nevertheless, this stroke of bad luck has proved to be a convenient excuse for some to rag on a demographic that they don't like for absolutely no rational reason whatsoever. Shockadelic's statistics support my speaking from experience here.