course_you_do

I just want to say that I really enjoy your work. Synthetic Worlds was foundational to my academic understanding of online communities and economics.

Since you wrote that, what would you say is the biggest change in the lay of the land?

I would personally definitely think very carefully about sex with someone who has HIV, safe or not. I mean, safe sex is all well and good, but accidents happen.

This is really the exact kind of stigma people are talking about though. As of now, the medical consensus is that a person who is treated and is undetectable cannot transmit HIV to their partner. This conclusion was reached after multiple decade-long studies of serodiscordant couples (one person HIV+ and one negative) resulted in no new infections where the HIV+ individual's viral load was suppressed using ART (Anti-Retroviral Therapy). (read more here: https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/undetectable-equals-untransmittable)

This has lead to the idea of "treatment as prevention," which is to say that if everyone were getting tested and onto appropriate medications, the rate of HIV infections would greatly decrease.

Finally, I wouldn't use the term "HIV victim" or "victim of HIV". I'm not victimized by it. Its a chronic medical condition I happen to have. I'd stick to "person who is HIV+" or "HIV+ individual".

No need to apologize. I appreciated that you recognized that it perhaps wasn't the best phrasing and essentially asked how to do better.

Education is absolutely the most important aspect of reducing stigma around HIV, and so I'm always happy to share information with folks, especially those who are receptive to learning more.