FungiUg

I've been worrying on the subject of safety and public events of late, after a rather nasty little discussion recently about someone passing on an STI. It seems that there have been events organised locally where it is obligatory to show an STI "clean bill of health" report, and someone (for whatever reason) failed to do so, and thus became a scapegoat for various accusations.

What struck me was just the sheer amount of risk involved in attending such an event. I can think of two reasons why event organisers would want such a test report from attendees: unprotected sex and body fluid play (whether blood or other.)

The reality of those tests is: they don't show up everything. For example, HIV can take three months to show up on a test, but may well be transmissible before then. Other STIs, for example some of the herpes family, may not show up at all even with someone who has had it for some time.

I have to wonder at a "community event organiser" who "in the interests of public safety" outed someone as having failed to provide such a test. Frankly, I think the person who is unsafe is the organiser who is promoting the events! There's a well-known concept of "fluid bound" that allows for safe (well, safer... nothing is entirely safe) play of this nature, and I would think that any community event organiser who was actually concerned for the welfare of the attendees would encourage this style of interaction.

What particularly made my hair stand up was the idea that people going along to such an event might actually be told that they are safe! After all, everyone's been vetted, right? This totally violates the concept of "risk aware"... more like "close your eyes and pretend that there's no risk". If people attend these events knowing they risk catching some form of STI, that's their choice. If, on the other hand, the event promoter is claiming attendees are safe, they are lying.

This is happening in my own city. And that scares me. The "community" (such as it is) here in Auckland is already quite fragile; I dread the thought that someone with their head firmly buried in the sand is ignoring the real risk of running these events and promoting them as safe.

Is it any surprise someone actually picked up an STI? No. It was only a matter of time. Should events of this nature continue, then others will be put at risk as well.

All I can do is post my concern and ask that people actually consider the very real risk of what they are doing. "Risk aware consensual kink" is about knowing what risks you are taking. Don't think that vetting makes unsafe fluid play safe; it doesn't.