Part of it is literally seeing the ladder being pulled up just as we reached for it. Not just for jobs or college tuition, but also sexually -- the previous generation had a pretty good time and the worst that was on offer was herpes. Puberty starts rumbling around and we're wondering what the future looks like and suddenly "GRID." And we were flailing around, is it viral? (There was, most people do not know, a period wherein it was thought that this was some kind of weird immune reaction to getting semen, any semen, into the bloodstream, which seemed unlikely to me even as a tween) How transmissible is it? Okay so maybe kissing doesn't do anything. And by the time that we figured out that it isn't exactly Ebola in terms of transmissibility, some damage was done.
So, Sex = Death, rain is acid, the bees are coming, the nukes will eradicate us all. Gen X has been waiting for the other shoe to drop for decades and AIDS was just one facet of it.
There's this idea that every generation bitches about the generation that comes after it, but I submit to you that every generation apparently also has people in it that see themselves as a special victim, as if the generations that came before it didn't also have their own challenges.
I point out that the eighties got so bad that George Michael, known mostly for writing happy celebratory songs, very nearly released a 'whole world is going to end' song in 1990's "Praying for Time"
It's hard to love / there's so much to hate / hanging on to hope / when there is no hope to speak of / And the wounded skies above / say it's much too late / So maybe we should all be praying for time.
They released that on the radio, it went to #1 on the Billboard charts, and stayed on the charts for 10 weeks. All while the First Gulf War was starting. Which he wouldn't have known when he was writing it.
That's not true. Both can cause infertility in women. One of my friends is an ob/gyn and they say that one of the saddest parts of their jobs is telling a couple that the wife is infertile because of an STI she contracted (almost always Chlamydia or Gonorrhea) at some time in the past. Both of these STIs can go undetected in females for years. They just don't have any outward symptoms. By the time they find out, it is too late.
It's the detection that is the problem. Ideally people will get checked regularly, but with the state of healthcare in the USA, we know that does not happen.
Herpes is permanent. While there are some stubborn antibiotic-resistant versions of the other two, they weren't that bad back then. So, yes, herpes is the worst thing.
Except, there is limited evidence that Herpes causes infertility in women while the other two definitely cause female infertility. I'd say the other two are worse since they often go undetected in women until the damage is already done.
They are treatable if a person knows they have it, but they often go undetected in women. Women often have no outward symptoms and by the time they are diagnosed, the damage is done and they are infertile. This is permanent damage that is devastating news to couples trying to get pregnant.
Except, we all know that doesn't happen, mostly because of the state of healthcare in the USA. My brother got colon cancer, so I tried to get a colonoscopy (I'm over 50), they refused unless I saw a primary care doctor first, well the first available appointment was 6 months out. After that I got a colonoscopy appointment, another 6 months out. Ridiculous reality.
One Medical makes it easy to get tested for STDs; it's not a colonoscopy, which is a specialist procedure. Looking at my app, the next available appointment with my PCP is two days away, at which point she'll put in a lab order. I go down the hall, they draw blood, and I give them a urine sample, and a few days later I get a pdf of results in the app.
Not just for my own peace of mind, but potential partners have asked to see it in the past. Different cultures I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I think there are plenty of problems with US healthcare, but I don't think this is one of them. Standard of care in the US is to get screened for STDs at least annually for sexually active people, and more frequently depending on your risk factors. Being on PrEP involves mandatory testing for STDs every 3 months. There are also tons of free clinics where people can get checked for STDs.
Part of it is literally seeing the ladder being pulled up just as we reached for it. Not just for jobs or college tuition, but also sexually -- the previous generation had a pretty good time and the worst that was on offer was herpes. Puberty starts rumbling around and we're wondering what the future looks like and suddenly "GRID." And we were flailing around, is it viral? (There was, most people do not know, a period wherein it was thought that this was some kind of weird immune reaction to getting semen, any semen, into the bloodstream, which seemed unlikely to me even as a tween) How transmissible is it? Okay so maybe kissing doesn't do anything. And by the time that we figured out that it isn't exactly Ebola in terms of transmissibility, some damage was done.
So, Sex = Death, rain is acid, the bees are coming, the nukes will eradicate us all. Gen X has been waiting for the other shoe to drop for decades and AIDS was just one facet of it.