There's a pill that prevents HIV — why are only gay men talking about it?

August 5, 2014 - The Verge.

by Arielle Duhaime-Ross

Truvada is the HIV prevention pill that puts women in control

A few months ago, the CDC recommended Truvada, the HIV prevention pill, to anyone at risk of infection. The Verge and other media outlets — including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Slate — covered the news in a big way, because it meant that government officials were not only urging doctors to prescribe the drug to queer men or individuals whose partners have HIV, but to anyone at risk — including sex workers, heterosexuals, and transfolk. Yet many reporters, myself included, failed to discuss how revolutionary this drug is for one particular, and substantial, segment of the US population: women.

"The idea of women protecting themselves from HIV really hasn't gotten much play," says Anna Forbes, staffer at the US Women and PrEP Working Group, which aims to increase awareness about Truvada among women. "It’s a topic that raises a lot of uncomfortable issues for a lot of people, because it’s not something that we can talk about without talking about the imbalance of power between men and women," notably during discussions about safe sex. Continue reading… 

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