Some poor old (not really that old nor unattractive) woman was bemoaning that that she had HIV and AIDS and had to take so much expensive medicine every day.
Then she mentioned the “Condominium Cassanovas” who went hopping from one condo to the other and didn’t think any kind of commons sense protection was in order.
“What fools these mortals be,”
Viva Viagra!
Is there a “Great Debate” (or even a lesser one) here?
Let me move this rant to the BBQ Pit.
Um, spingears? Are you high or something?
NO JOKE THREADS IN THE PIT!!! 
QED
It was on the national news this evening. I can’t remember if I was watching NBC or CBS.
Elderly catching AIDS and other things because of unprotected sex. Viagra was cited as a major part of the equation.
I can’t say as I’m surprised. I imagine a lot of these folks (especially if they are straight) didn’t grow up or have much exposure to safer sex/HIV-prevention education or have a particularly thorough understanding of the risk.
I think a good part of it is cultural: They weren’t, by and large, taught about sex at a young age, and they certainly have no desire to learn about Dirty Subjects now. Remember, for a good while the male route to sexual knowledge was with a Playboy and whispered conversations with similarly-ignorant peers (or those just a notch older). Females, also, had little chance of picking up good sexual health info. (Any culture that thinks the Coca-Cola douche is an effective spermicide has deep problems.)
Secondly, AIDS is new to them. It’s been around for two decades, but that was long after they stopped being sexually active and long after they stopped caring about the New Things. Back in the day, the clap could be cleared up with antibiotics and you only got it from sleeping with Women of Ill Repute. AIDS is incurable and hides in people of all demographics.
Howyadoin,
I’m not so sure that AIDS is new to the elderly. I remember watching a documentary back in the '90s that showed some very sobering statistics on HIV/AIDS among the elderly, especially those in large retirement/elderly housing developments.
Bear in mind the mortality rates for men vs. women. The older you get, there are a lot more women than men. Therefore, those men who were still sexually active (even before the Viagra revolution) have the ability to pick and choose partners. These same men were frequenting prostitutes at the same time. Condom use was minimal, and these men had infected multiple women due to their promiscuous habits. As of April 2001:
"Women in midlife and older represent over 25% of all women with AIDS "
From:
http://www.caps.ucsf.edu/capsweb/elderlybib.html
Frankly, it’s less tragic when a 75-year-old dies than a 25-year-old, even when the cause of death is AIDS, so the exposure just wasn’t there.
With the advent of Viagra, it might actually be better, given that there is a larger number of men that could be sexually functional, thus reducing the potential number of partners of any one man. That’s just speculation on my part, though…
-Rav