Sex roulette parties are being reported as a “new trend” in Spain, anonymous sex parties -mostly held by gay men - in which in most cases one HIV positive person is invited and protection isn’t used. The high-risk parties were first reported in the Spanish news outlet El Periodico. Dr Josep Mallolas of the Clinic Hospital Barcelona told El Periodico that he believes people have “lost respect” for HIV. The party attendees are unaware of which person is HIV positive, saying “Who get’s it, get’s it”. A 22-year-old, who often goes to these parties, told Mallolas “My sexuality is very important to me. “I don’t want to content myself with living the rest of my life with a condom on. What’s my alternative? To get infected. The sooner I get infected, get treated and maintain an undetectable viral load, the sooner I will stop suffering about the idea of getting infected.” Mallolas says “I had chills when he said this”. He believes people are no longer scared of infecting HIV, with some youth wanting to enjoy their sexuality and not resign to their fate. The sex roulette parties have different formats, some being exclusively for HIV positive people while others are set up with only one HIV person attending. In Catalonia - the region Barcelona is in - around 30,000 people receive treatment for HIV, costing the Coselleria de Salut, Catalonia’s Ministry of Health, 7000 Euros per year, per person. The homosexual community is the only demographic in which the number of new infections is constantly increasing.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 27th May 2016 - 10:17am