Bicho and I: "No one is obligated to say they live with HIV"
By Lucas Fauno Gutiérrez (script) and Jon Amarillo (illustrations). The question always sounds like “Why didn’t you tell me?” but it never resonates with “Why aren’t you comfortable sharing your HIV status with me?” The demand is extortionate with “You have to take care of me,” and very rarely is it shared with “It’s the responsibility of…”
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By Lucas Fauno Gutiérrez (script) and Jon Amarillo (illustrations).
The question always sounds like “Why didn’t you tell me?” but it never resonates with “Why aren’t you comfortable sharing your serological status with me?” The demand is extortionate with “You have to take care of me,” and very rarely is it shared with “It’s both of our responsibility.” And I use the word “extortion” because this demand stems from the idea that we’ve done something wrong, that we carry something, so that we’re now obligated to prioritize others and never ourselves. In a consensual encounter, responsibility is shared. Behind a positive person who chooses not to make their HIV status visible, there’s a long journey that brings us here. We hear everything from “I don’t dare be with you” to “I only want to be with healthy people.” In other words: a lack of information. And in these everyday wounds that we sometimes even normalize, our will, our capacity to share, our identity are eroded. Over time we learn to be strong, to recover faster and faster. But all of this would be resolved with a society that chooses information and empathy over punishment.
Bicho and I #21: Take a hug
Bicho and I #19 go to the movies: 120 beats per minute
Bug and Me #18: Your question is annoying
Bicho and I #17: “Yes, I live with a strain of HIV”
Bug and I #16 “It’s not contagious!”
Bicho and I #15: #8M Three women living with HIV explain why they stop
Bicho and I #14: #LivingWithHIV “Where is Bicho?”
Bicho and I #13: “We are not carriers”
Bicho and I #12: “How can you not tell me you have a Bicho?”
Bicho and I #11: HIV and AIDS are not the same
BichoYYo#10: Bicho, me and medication: “People with HIV are much more than a pill”
BichoYYo #9: We urgently need our medication
Bicho and I #8 The Dangers of Activism
Bug and I #7 Superpowers for an X-Men cover
Bicho and I #6 “Happy New Year!”
Bicho and I #5: “Nine years with Bicho”
Bug and I #4: “The scapegoat”
Bicho and I #3 “Without Grindr there is noparadise”
Bicho and I #2 “The best thing about medication”
Bicho and I #1: the comic strip that tells in the first person what it's like to live with HIV
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