Mon 17 Jun 2013 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Miriam Grossman The New Zealand AIDS Foundation says a report on sexual health advice from websites such as Get It On!, which was prepared by an American psychiatrist for Family First, makes claims that are ‘bizarre’ and is full of ‘not so subtle homophobic rhetoric’. Miriam Grossman analyses a number of websites, which include curious.org.nz and getiton.org.nz, in her ‘critical review’. Grossman is a regular guest of US Christian right organisations encourages people to “fight their same-sex attraction” and has said: “One notes how often the term “transgender folks” is used to get us to believe they are people just like you and I – they just want to be castrated, that’s all.” Her study for Family First, a highly-conservative Christian lobby organisation, which has been picked up by numerous media outlets in New Zealand today, warns that sites such as Curious and Get It On! claim to promote sexual health, but “we find, overall, little encouragement of restraint or self-discipline”. She states: “Also of concern is that all the publications and resources reviewed in this analysis fail to adequately alert the student to the well-established dangers of anal intercourse, with or without a condom. At least two sites, getiton.org.nz and the old curious.org.nz, actually celebrate this high risk behaviour.” NZAF Executive Director Shaun Robinson, who was a senior executive in Presbyterian Support before helming the NZAF, says the statement assumes that anal sex is inherently high risk under all situations. “This is untrue. Anal sex is safe provided condoms and lubricant are used. The evidence for this is so compelling that New Zealand courts have acknowledged condom use as mitigating the risk of spreading HIV. Both heterosexual men and women and men who have sex with men engage in anal sex, but MSM have anal sex far more frequently. The implication that anal sex per se is inherently high risk is a thin veil over a homophobic agenda. “The not so subtle homophobic rhetoric is perhaps most blatantly illustrated with the line ‘The anus is an exit, not an entrance. This is not the Bible; this is science. Unlike the vagina, nature put a tight sphincter at the entrance of the anus. It’s there for a reason: keep out!’. “What sort of message is that sending to young men who are trying to navigate their sexuality? Will reading this empower them to seek advice on how to protect themselves from HIV and STIs? No, it tells them that anal sex is wrong; ‘keep out’”. Robinson says the accusation getiton.org.nz promotes risky sexual behaviour is, quite frankly, bizzare. "Get it On! is a safe sex social marketing programme sponsored by the NZAF and every communication is underscored by the NZAF’s primary HIV prevention message; the necessity of condoms and lubricant for anal sex every time among men who have sex with men; the group most at risk of HIV in New Zealand. “Get it On! does not celebrate high risk behaviour; precisely the opposite. Get it On! encourages 'behaviour change', celebrating condoms as a normalised part of sex," says Robinson. "Since the implementation of Get it On! three years ago, new diagnoses of HIV have reduced by nearly 20 per cent in New Zealand.” Robinson also addresses a claim in the report that the websites looked at inform students that at any age, sexual freedom is a ‘right’. “Getiton.org.nz does not say that. Get it On! is not judgemental about people who choose to have lots of sex, very little or no sex,” he says. “Every communication under the Get it On! banner is delivered with one key goal in mind; giving MSM (men who have sex with men) the tools to make informed decisions about their sexual behaviour so that they can protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Get it On! is motivated by the vision of creating a condom culture in New Zealand where condom use is a normalised part of sex," Robinson adds. “The report recommends delaying sexual activity until adulthood. That is certainly a choice available to any adolescent and we respect that choice. “For people of any age who choose to be sexually active the most important thing is that they keep themselves and their partners safe. They need knowledge and encouragement about condoms to be safe. This is the responsible, reasonable and effective approach.” Robinson adds, "To the author’s credit, the report does acknowledge this: 'Is every young person going to postpone sex? Of course not. But we are still obligated to inform them of the grave risks they face, to teach them biological truths about their physical and emotional vulnerabilities, to warn them in a no-nonsense manner about avoiding high risk behaviours, and to encourage the highest standard.' “The NZAF couldn’t agree more with this statement and believes that Get it On! is doing exactly what the author recommends. For adolescent MSM who choose to have sex, Get it On! is there to inform them on how to best protect themselves from HIV and STIs.” Family First is attempting to use the report to claim the government should only fund ‘evidence-based education resources which are approved by parents’, with its frontman Bob McCoskrie stating: “The current approach in NZ sows confusion about right and wrong and says the moral absolute is - use condoms.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 17th June 2013 - 11:40am