Oh geesh... I hear ya. For like TWO YEARS I had this terrible anxiety hanging over me that I was surely walking around with HIV and that I would soon have full blown AIDS and die. Seriously. I just felt sick with worry. And I didn’t get tested because I was so terrified. I remember someone telling me that “not knowing…

Yeah I don't know. I think the truth is that while you can take preventative measures, there really isn't any way that you can prevent massacres- terrorists or lone gunmen or whatever. So long as people gather in public spaces, there will be the potential for attacks on those spaces. Honestly, I've thought a lot about…

Oh yes, you are right. Was that Chad Lowe? Ha ha, small world! I was just entering sexual relationships about the time that this show was airing, and I remember his little speech about how there was one girl on his dance card, had sex with her once, and now... HOLY FUCKING SHIT. It terrified me! As if sex wasn't…

But I’m not sure about that as it is exactly what happened here in the 80s. People went from being terrified of anyone with HIV to (generally) being terrified only of CONTRACTING the disease. Maybe US ad campaigns were better? Or maybe the older people were never able to do it, but I was a child so I didn’t need to go…

Yes, and actually in conversation when you point this out, people respond that other people’s stupidity is not a reason to legislate away their right to carry, and that people dying from guns is worth the freedom to bear arms.

Yes, and this is an argument for trained, paid security on staff.

This. And the room was extremely crowded on top of all that. What would you do, shout to everyone to duck? Bastards.

I don't know about gun laws in the US really. Can't someone who carries guns legally carry them into theaters?

Wow. Actually, if more people did these scenarios, it might actually help. And keep in mind that in exercises, civilians are focused, expecting attack and NOT fearing for their lives. In real life, it'd be even worse.

I keep seeing this crap, especially in my FB newsfeed. Seriously, how are these people even saying this when the US is heavily armed and we have mass shootings and gun massacres every week? I mean, by their logic, would those things be prevented by the fact that everyone is packing? I just don't get it.

Mostly I was commiserating, as we are the same age. But I was disagreeing with the part that made you want to jump back from the actual PERSON. I don't know if the campaigns here in the US were different than in the UK, but we had a lot of "AIDS is the most terrifying thing ever" coupled with "you can't catch it from…

Justin Bieber can't make ANYTHING work. Evan Ross can pull it off when he wears the right kind of hat. Utilitarian (caps, stocking hats) look great on him. Fancy stylish hats also look great. But then he does this "cool badass" thing where he wears a hat that's way too big or tipped to the side, and that just looks…

Especially.

Uh, prolly.

Ummm... yes. But HIV/AIDS really was a wholly terrifying thing back in those days. And I also grew up at that time, and as such, I learned about transmission as well. So while I was terrified of contracting HIV, I was never afraid of people who had it. Perhaps you were not exposed to actual individuals?

Bieber and Sheen are both gross humans. That said, I can think of a dozen reasons why I would not want a room next to Sheen, and none of them have jack to do with his HIV status. Reason Number One: I don't want to talk to him.

Yeah, I tried to say everything you just said, but I think you said it a lot better.

Much sympathy for the parents, and yes the US needs better childcare options for working mothers plus better maternal leave. These things would benefit society as a whole. So no argument there, but I seriously doubt that parental leave is a matter of life and death. What a way to sensationalize an issue. We don’t even…

You might be right about that. I don’t know, actually, if attention is being diverted to trans issues. To me, it seems that feminism should be focused on all the issues I named, and that trans women, as women, should benefit from the same movement. They also have certain individual experiences and needs that are not…

You miss my point. Trans women are less than .3% of all women in the world. Let's assume they are under represented. Let's assume the real number is ten times higher than that. We are still dealing with less than 3% of any of those populations. I'm not saying those women do not deserve the same rights. I'm saying that…