Left Field by Patricia Nell Warren

The other day I was watching Animal Cops. Often the program deals with people who deserve to be punished for crimes like dog fighting and animal torture. But sometimes the episodes target low-income people who aren?t real criminals?they simply don?t know how to care for pets, or can?t afford animal care. In one story, law enforcement raided a tenement to arrest a black woman whose dog was skin and bones. After the cops seized the animal, they handcuffed the woman and booked her on charges of animal cruelty.

In my opinion, she should do community service?volunteering at the ASPCA and learning animal care. Unfortunately this woman faced a court appearance, and a $1,000 fine or jail. Plus Children?s Services might take her children if she went to jail. The penalty reveals the uncaring of our society to a shocking degree. Much as I love animals, I wonder why our society has such twisted priorities?that we care more about a dog than a mother and her children, that we value punishment more than education. 

When it comes to HIV prevention, our collective and individual lack of care, and our skewed priorities, are also shocking. Today state laws punish HIV-positives for not informing sex partners of their status, for doing sex work while HIV-positive, etc. Indeed the prosecutions of ?HIV criminality? have shot up lately. But prison won?t stop AIDS any more than it will stop animal cruelty. I?ve never seen the logic of punishing the arrestee in an ?HIV crime? when prevention programs are failing so abysmally, leaving future victims so willing to take risks, so ignorant of the consequences of one mistake. All of us know people who fuss about the sanitation of their food and water, yet who think nothing of having a sex quickie with a stranger.

Both conservatives and liberals are at fault. Religious righters battle to keep sex education out of schools, yet complain about rising youth infection rates. Liberals seek to make excuses for ?free expression,? or defend pet programs whose success is questioned. In a country where advertising keeps our leaky economy afloat by selling cars, junk food, and deodorant, where our President has even managed to sell many Americans on the Iraqi war, how is it that we can?t sell the idea of sexual health? 

Maybe it?s because we?d rather punish people than educate them into caring about their own health, and that of others.

Caring about yourself is not easy, or learned overnight. Not long ago, I wrote about a young gay man who seemed to have learned to care. He had gotten hooked on partying, heavy drinking, drugs, and risky situations where he got infected. After waking up and getting on the wagon, he was clean for awhile, and conscientious about his health. Unfortunately a new job put him back in contact with the party scene and now he?s hooked again?late hours, stress, booze, drugs. He has lost weight, looks horrible. I can only hope he has a second wake-up call, and learns to care for real before it?s too late.  

Care issues are also raised by that small subculture who actively seek HIV infection. Recently a gay friend saw that talked-about documentary The Gift and asked me,  ?Why don?t these guys care about themselves?? He and his partner are a faithful couple who?ve kept themselves healthy, and they?re bewildered by the film. 

Perhaps we need to count the high cost of a punitive attitude. There?s the punitive attitude that some still feel toward gays. Despite thirty years of gay rights, even with the recent Supreme Court decision, some gays still struggle with self-esteem?deep in their hearts they feel they deserve to get AIDS. (Gays, in turn, are often judgmental and socially punitive toward each other.) As our country grows more reactionary, it grows in punitive attitudes toward non-violent drug users, even toward heterosexuals who don?t lead conventional sex lives. The total on punitive attitude must run into the billions?must cost us the lives of thousands who might otherwise be creative, productive citizens. With so much punishment in the air, it?s no wonder that so many people don?t feel a sense of positive personal investment in sexual health. And if we don?t care about ourselves first, how can we care about others? 

Maybe the turning point for AIDS will come when enough Americans are willing to count the cost of uncaring. If ?prevention? is going to work, it has to equal ?real care.?

Patricia Nell Warren, author of fiction bestsellers like The Front Runner, also writes provocative commentary. Her writings are archived at www.patricianellwarren.com. Reach her by e-mail at patriciawarren@aol.com.

  October 2003

Copyright (c) 2003 by Patricia Nell Warren. All rights reserved.