Many that know me through social media know that I guide and try to answer all the questions that come to me…I get thousands a month and with all the travel and work I do I can’t keep up sometimes!! Like today, I am writing this blog while I am on a plane to Seattle for the very important CROI conference.
I get this question a lot!!! "I slept with a whore. Does this mean I have HIV?" I correct them and try to educate them but sometimes it doesn't process. I think to myself, could it be that they disassociate HIV from me? Don't they realize that I hurt and feel like any other human being? I tell them…Yes, sex workers (who should never be called a whore) can have HIV!! But this doesn't mean only sex workers get it. HIV has no face and it doesn't discriminate. It can be your daughter, grandmother, father, wife, husband, child, etc.
When will we as a society stop the ignorance (lack of knowledge) or do they do this to troll and try to degrade me?? I am so puzzled at the insensitivity of some people…Like another person that questioned me daily in my bilingual YouTube Channel: "What does it feel like to have a monster inside of you every day and it's trying to kill you?" I mean wtf?? I wouldn't dare to ask a cancer patient, "How does it feel to know you have a deadly disease and you are most likely going to die!!!"
Consider other people's feelings. I know many have said…well, they just don't know any better…I think that they do for the most part but they just don't care or they don't think before they speak.
I, with much dignity and class, respond…I am not that dramatic to call it a monster! This happened almost 26 years ago that I got infected with HIV!! I control it with my HIV meds and I live a very blessed life. Nothing is perfect in life. I got lemons and made lemonade.
Maybe it's a trigger I have to work on when someone insinuates I'm a whore because I got HIV. The trigger comes from my early childhood and I was called, along with my mom, A WHORE by my dad…That I have forgiven.
I know I am a public person and the good outweighs the bad :) so NO…I am not a whore nor am I going to kill myself because I have a virus called HIV! I have a lot to live for and so much work to do as far as my mission in this life: give hope to the hopeless and continue to save lives…I know I am making a difference! I know my value as a human being!! When will the day come where we can openly say "I have HIV" without the questioning??? I hope soon! As I always say: this is not a moral condition, it is a human condition.
Love and light
Maria T Mejia
