How to talk about Charlie Sheen & HIV

Today, Charlie Sheen announced that he is HIV positive. He has publicly joined the 35 million people living with the virus worldwide, and the 1.2 million Americans living with the virus.

During this time, a man who is very well known for his acting career, and maybe even more so his antics, is going to be attacked. He will be belittled. He will be faced with a never ending brigade of people slewing ignorance his way via Facebook, Twitter, and as we saw with Danny Pintauro, the media.

So before you start posting about Charlie, who is brave for speaking out on such a huge issue, please remember to be a decent human being and educate yourself on how to talk about HIV.

1.) HIV is not AIDS 
HIV is the human immunodeficiency virus. AIDS is a diagnosis that one gets when his or her T cell count drops to a very low number. We do know that Charlie has an undetectable viral load, but even if we didn’t know that, there is no reason to associate him with AIDS. The specifics of his diagnosis are not required to talk about this issue. What we know is that he came out as HIV+. That’s all. So when referring to Charlie, or any other person living with the virus, stick to some basic lingo. The Stigma Project, a grassroots organization that aims to lower the HIV infection rate and neutralize the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, has a slew of helpful graphics that help educate. The one below, is an easy way to see how to address HIV.

2.) There’s no reason to discriminate against people living with HIV
HIV lives in bodily fluids such as semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk, and blood. In order to contract the virus, one of these bodily fluids must enter your body through unprotected sex, open wounds, drinking breast milk, drinking blood, or entering the body in any way. So as long as your not rubbing your open wounds on random people, tapping into the tit for a quick snack, practicing dark, blood cult rituals, or having unprotected sex then you are in the clear.

Alongside that, if you sleep with someone living with HIV, there are many ways to protect yourself. Condoms are the easiest, cheapest way to protect yourself. Another option is PrEP, which is a daily pill that keeps HIV- people from contracting the virus.

There are also many studies that prove a person with an undetectable viral load will not pass on the virus to their sexual partner.

3.) Do not shame
There have already been a number of posts flooding Facebook about Charlie. He is now the most well known person in the world living with HIV, and already has been labeled a criminal. This reinforces a stigma that affects every person living with the virus and misinforms those that don’t know about the virus. When this ignorance is coming from our own community it is telling to how many people are still living in fear of this virus. This is a reason the virus is still around.

So when referring to Charlie, or anyone living with the virus, make sure to know your terms. Make sure you don’t ask questions that you have no right knowing, such as someone’s T cell count, how they got the virus, or how “shameful” they are of their past decisions.

The Stigma Project provides another useful graphic to help those talk about HIV.

4.) Be considerate 
As I have already stated, Charlie is going to be bombarded with people shaming, blaming, and being outright rude. It may not be directly to his face, or it may be, but regardless, we must recognize that what he did was brave. He is falling into the same boat that Caitlyn Jenner fell into after her Vanity Fair cover. Charlie is a white, heterosexual male, which is a group of people that aren’t typically associated with HIV. He is in a different category from transgender women, who are 49 times more likely to have HIV than the general public, or young gay black men, who are about 20 percent of all new HIV infections. This does not mean that his experiences are any less, and attacks from a community who has been attached to the virus since it came about, is simply embarrassing.