While boarding my flight to Chicago, I was asked to show my
passport. Your credentials are checked before you enter a new country. Your
credentials are checked before entering so many places – bars, discotheques,
private parties, conferences, airplanes, concerts. But has anyone asked you for
your credential when you enter the most private party – the bed?
Hookups, one night stands, flings – call them what you
please. Before getting into them, how often do we make sure that other person
is healthy and fit for entering into this party? By making sure, I do not mean
asking, “Hey, you are –ve, right?” or “You get tested regularly, do you?” and
then believing her or him. By making sure, I mean literally verifying some kind
of document that certifies that other person is fit for having physical person
relationship with another healthy person
and if not, what precautions need to be observed while getting into physical
union.
This brought me to think of a health card or health
passport, that mentions my HIV and other STI/ STD status. A card that needs to
be renewed every six months. A small passport that fits into wallet or purse. A
card that is issued by government health agencies free of cost. A card that would
be private property of a person and no
agency – private or public - could ask for it. All information would be
strictly confidential with that person, unless she or he voluntarily shares.
Questions about plausibility of this idea. Can it be an effective solution to check STDs
and STIs ? When you meet someone in a bar and after many drinks, if you get
cozy with someone, would you stop and check her/his health passport? When such
a program is launched, folks won’t sign up for it overnight and people won’t
get tested and certified in no time. So will men and women have patience? Is
such a card relevant to people of all sexual orientation? Will it also be
relevant to the physical reunions that place
after few dates and days of platonic interactions and not on first meeting or
through a sex website or mobile app. You already know quite a lot about the
other person – his/her family, education back grounds, likes and dislikes. So
would it be appropriate to ask for her/his health passport before moving the transactions from platonic to carnal?
Comments invited!
