It’s weird that in your entire post, complete with cites and outside opinions, you’ve still no closer to tieing AIDS in to the topic, EC.
No, I was kinda pointing out that your criteria – “let’s ditch the old people, they’re not all that productive anyway” – tends to run along those lines. I don’t respect that viewpoint any more than I respect the notion that “AIDS shouldn’t be treated because IV drug users are a bunch of useless junkies and gays are all immoral scum.”
You DO see the fundamental underlying similarity between these two arguments, don’t you?
You’re right, the topic has drifted, but I’m not really the one responsible for that. I get the impression that no one has been able to cite any large contingent of people who use anal sex as a substitute for birth control. Where’s Margaret Mead when you need her?
Okay, yes, I do. I was originally responding not so much to YOU, but to the author of the passage which you quoted.
He was trying to suggest that as bad as AIDS is, it doesn’t deserve the priority the government gives it in relation to cancer or heart disease. I was trying to suggest that, if you want to be cold and hard, the cold, hard facts certainly support the current “prioritization scheme.”
But please note that I took exception to the whole thing with making lists of illnesses/prioritizing government resources. That’s not my job, and I wouldn’t want to do that, nor would I suggest that’s a wise approach to public health care. Are there limits? Of course. But AIDS is certainly at the top of the list for a lot of very good reasons.
nisosbar: Let me introduce you to the fabulous late 20th century invention known as the “Search Engine”: when you type a set of keywords into the text box near the top of the screen and press the ‘Search’ button, it automagically compares those keywords to the content of billions of online documents and returns an ordered list of relevant citations along with a brief abstract of each. Imagine the possibilities: in less time than it takes to post a follow-up to “Anybody know: do sub-Saharan Africans have more anal intercourse than Westerners?”, you could already know the answer! Try it!
Astonishing, isn’t it? Anal sex is at least as widely practiced as fellatio, NASCAR and migraine headaches as an effective means of family planning, yet one would be equally hard-pressed to substantiate the popularity of those contraceptive methodologies also.
The Straight Dope Message Board’s stated mission is to “Fight Ignorance.” To the extent that a thread can bring light to topics about which SDMBer’s remain ignorant (and anal sex is an enjoyable activity about which too many people generally remain ignorant), I am doing a GREAT job doing my little “bit” as a member here.
When was the last time YOU started an ignorance-dispelling thread, KoalaBear (and not a topic about kiteflying or stamp-collecting)?? :dubious:
Migraines as a means of birth control! Hilarious…
Really? I did as text search for that phrase on ATMB and found no such “mission statement” to exist. I tend to believe people chant “fighting ignorance” as their mantra because it sounds noble and altruistic in a way that “celebrating narcissism” does not.
You hope to eradicate ignorance by perpetuating it?
The underlying misconception is that anal sex is a cause of AIDS and not merely a vector of transmission. This was “proven” by such “facts” as the assertion that African heterosexuals engage in anal sex more than Western heterosexuals do, ergo, the disease is pandemic on that continent but epidemic only among the homosexual population of others.
That’s a shockingly stupid hypothesis rooted partially in puritan notions of sexual morality (anal sex is “riskier” than vaginal sex because it’s stigmatized, not because the data supports that conclusion) and partially in explicit racial bias (anal sex is “cultural” among dark-skinned people of any sexual orientation, dontcha know).
I think we perceive our purposes for being here differently. I speak when I’ve got something to say; I don’t believe it’s possible to rescue people from their own stupidity, so I wouldn’t pretend to try.
Exactly. Almost as hilarious as the suggestion that anal sex is a popular method of contraception in regions of the world where the fertility rate exceeds 6 births per mother, and based on the same scientific evidence as well.
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Prevalence of AIDS in African men is higher in those who are uncircumcised. The inside of the foreskin lacks the dermis that the rest of the penis enjoys–it’s basicaly an open door for HIV and others. Cut the sucker off and then you have to get a bit more vigorous in your activity to get the virus inside Mr. Happy. I know this is true, because I saw it on TV.
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The suggestion of anal sex to my wife at all would be a very effective form of birth control.
Yes, really. From The Straight Dope Front Page:
Except that migraines leave at least one party sexually frustrated.
At least anal intercourse provides a mostly satisfactory (and some would say, preferable) ejaculatory alternative to vaginal intercourse, eliminating much of the risk of impregnation.
Are you serious, nisosbar? You fancy yourself a “Warrior of Enlightenment” because you’ve mistaken an advertising slogan for a syndicated alternative newspaper column as a crusade?
Read this sentence back to yourself substituting the words ‘masturbation,’ ‘frottage,’ ‘Monday Night Football’ and ‘nocturnal emission’ for the underlined term above. Note that you can’t make the sentence less vapid no matter which term you choose, you can only make it more or less obviously ridiculous.
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No, I don’t fancy myself a “warrior of enlightenment,” whatever that means. :rolleyes: I participate on an IBB, the Straight Dope, on which strangers get together to have discussions about whatever interests them within the boundaries of whatever the board administrators have defined.
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If you think that the “fight ignorance” motto is a mere advertising slogan, don’t take my word for it that it is not just an ad slogan - ask Lynn Bodoni or CK Dexter Haven or Cecil or Manhattan to confirm for you that “fight ignorance” is either the official or unofficial motto of Straight Dope. Any long-time member should be able to do same.
You haven’t been paying attention to my thread history! 
The majority of people who responded to my thread (about why sex with someone else is more satisfying than masturbation) agreed that sex with someone else is indeed more satisfying. The same principle would apply to nocturnal emissions as to masturbation. It’s singular sex, not the same as sex with someone else.
I suppose frottage could be considered a form of behavioral birth control, but again, you won’t have the true sensation of penetration going on, and thus, it can’t be as satisfying to most people, IMO, as anal intercourse.
“Monday Night Football”? That’s so hetero…
there should be a ban for being stupid, i am talking about madline.
“felons”
i can’t even tell you what i think of you cuz that would get me banned for sure.
my school was not as liberal 