Over the past few months, San Francisco based organizations HIVE (formerly BAPAC) and getSFcba, partnered with the National Clinical Training Center for Family Planning (NCTCFP) to help fill a gap ? the slow uptake of PrEP among cis women in the United States.
I have learned so much about my body and what it means to me to be able to protect it. I have learned what it is to exercise my right, and that of other women, to be on PrEP.
I’m not stopping pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) because my skin turned blue. That was an embarrassing mistake I made in the first few days of trying it. Don’t tell anyone, though, or they’ll find out that I’m the kind of guy who buys a black flannel shirt and wears it for a few days without washing it, not realizing it’s going to seep dye onto exposed areas, causing me to make panicky calls to bemused, sympathetic friends and globally noted HIV researchers alike.
I have to say that PrEP has become a part of my life and I feel really good about it, I also have been very happy on the Women’s PrEP Project and I will miss being a participant. As a woman, it’s never easy to talk about sexual health, let alone something like PrEP.
If I want to be a strong, independent woman then I have to be smart about my health and my body as it affects my life, my partners and even my children. Ultimately, for me, PrEP is about taking back my power. To take back my power and take ownership over my body. With this awareness I want to make positive choices for myself and walk through whatever fear I have.