AIDS and Viagra: Excuses, Excuses

From CNN:

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) told Reuters it wants Pfizer to be barred from marketing Viagra as a lifestyle or sexual enhancement drug. The nonprofit organization said Pfizer's actions had led to risky behavior by men and an increase in HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

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Um, no. While HIV rates may be on the rise among young gay men here in the States, it's hardly because of a little blue pill. Viagra is for dudes who can't get it up just like Sudafed is for people with stuffy noses -- oh, and if you're a meth head, you can throw in some Drano and have yourself a gay old time. So because some reckless people can do some damage with everyday products does that mean companies should stop marketing them?

The real reason why HIV continues to haunt the gay community is because our hyper-sexed, party-obsessed culture has allowed it to. In an age where gay men are over-powered by choice -- you can sort through gay.com to hone in on your dream trick, you can have your goat-cheese burger at Elmo cooked to your prissy specifications and you can bark at a sales clerk to dig up that last pair of rainbow-stitch True Religion jeans -- it's not up to a drug company to tell our community that taking drugs you don't need can lead to bad things.

Call me sheltered, but I see more party ads and naked 2xist models on my walk down 7th avenue than I do Viagra ads. In fact, the last Viagra ad I saw featured Bob Dole.

If the AHF is concerned about people profiting from sex and the pedaling of risky behavior, why don't they go after the guys behind a new clothing line called Nasty Pig? Mind you, I think the company's models are hot, but some ill-informed bug-chasing idiot might just embrace the Nasty Pig mentality and throw on a pair of chaps and his better judgment to the wind.

Dare I say it? Whatever happened to personal accountability?

If Nasty Pig can be the cover story of a weekly gay magazine under the headline "From Swans to Swine," then Viagra should be allowed to sell its little blue pill to trolls, middle-aged men and meth-heads alike.