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From: Hoffman.es@XEROX.COM
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids
Subject: Re: "Is it attempted Murder"
Message-ID: <27730@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Date: 4 Oct 89 22:09:20 GMT
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Several people have objected to Jay Schuster's answers, wherein he laid the
responsibility on EVERYONE, not just someone who is infected.

I must strongly agree with Jay Schuster.  OK, so he should have inserted
the word "new" in this paragraph:

 >*Everyone* is a carrier of HIV.  Or at least, that's what you should
 >be thinking when you are having sex with someone NEW. And you shouldn't
 >change your behavior when they tell you they are negative.

Then married folks with trustworthy spouses, like Robert Hamer (in article
1288) won't get so offended, I hope.

Schuster goes on to say that "No one is forcing you to have sex with this
person.  If you catch AIDS from them, I think it's pretty much your
problem, not theirs."  OK, so he should have left off the last two words.
It's obviously a terrible problem now for both people.

Sure, the infected person ought to be held accountable for his/her
behavior.  But that does NOT mean that you, if you are UNINFECTED, are
blameless if you become infected through risky sexual behavior.

The situation is NOT "analogous to [blaming] women who get raped because
they were dumb enough to walk down a deserted street ...." (quote from
Hamer).  Sex is generally more consequential than walking.  The better
analogy here is to a woman who becomes pregnant when she doesn't want to.
Whose fault is it?  Both parties, I would say.

  -- Rodney Hoffman