National Women and Girls' HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

With all of the heavy issues that have been in the news lately regarding women and contraception it's easy to see that a lot of old ideas and rhetoric are still out there. Rush Limbaugh came under fire, and rightfully so, for calling Sandra Fluke  a "slut" when she wanted to testify about the need for contraception to be covered by insurance companies. 

The idea of a woman being villianized for wanting to be in charge of her own body/sexuality is not a new one. Marsha Graham Bartenetti came up with the idea of a "Just In Case" condom carrying compact back in 1983 in order to help women prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

When she intially came up with the idea, she said that she was met with laughter, and a lot of people shamed her for trying to get women to carry condoms. The women, she was told, would be treated like "sluts."

According to Marsha, even recently her product was shunned she says:

"But what really shocked us was when we set up a booth at a very big woman's conference out here in Los Angeles, and moms were coming by, saying 'Oh no, not my daughter, she's too busy studying to be having sex' or 'I couldn't get her one of those, what would she think of me.' If we keep judging it to the point of silence, we're throwing our daughters under the bus."

Marsha continued, however, to persue her goal of getting the "Just In Case" product sold, and has even been on the show The Doctors discussing the importance of women carrying their own protection.

There is a new population of women who need to learn to protect themselves according to Marsha.

"Now we need to get the message across to women my age," Marsha, who recently turned 62, says. "There are huge numbers of baby boomers getting STD's and HIV. They're relieved they can't get pregnant -- so they're not thinking about anything else. It's a game of Russian roulette out there today and women who are newly divorced or widowed don't understand that."

In honor of National Women  & Girls' HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, talk to your mothers, sisters, cousins, and friends, about the importance of  a woman protecting herself.

Fellowship Opportunity

The Pedro Zamora Public Policy Fellowship

Long before there was The Jersey Shore, The Hills, or The Bad Girls Club, there was The Real World.  MTV's The Real World is said to have opened the doors for every other reality show that picks strangers to live in a house together and capture what happens on tape.

I was glued to Season 3 of the Real World which was filmed in San Fransico. Like many others, I had the pleasure of getting to know and love Pedro Zamora. Pedro won the hearts of his housemates--well most of them, save the unpredictable Puck-- and the world all while fighting for his life.

As a person living with AIDS, Pedro fought tirelessly to educate young people about the disease. Pedro Zamora died on November 11, 1994 at just 22 years old.

AIDS United has created this fellowship opportunity located in Washington, D.C. to honor Pedro's life and his fight. This is a paid opportunity, and anyone over 18 can apply. There is no age maximum.

So if your dream has always been to help put an end to this terrible disease, this may be the opportunity for you. Click the link at the top for more information, or pass it along if you know of someone who would love to apply. KP