Yesterday it was wild and rocking through the main drag of Paris! Ten floats, each carrying a band were revving up the sounds to ear busting beats. From the Bastille down Rue Rivoli, passing Hôtel de Ville, to the Louvre, then turning at Palais Royale, the parade slowly headed towards Opera Garnier. Huge throngs of young adolescents and 20 somethings, marched alongside the floats creating almost a mob scene of throbbing musical frenzy. Beer breaths mixed with heavy clouds of cannabis permeated the air. I was definitely in the minority in so far as age. I doubt I saw hardly more than 15 older than fifty in the street.
The theme of the parade was a reminder to all that the HIV/Aids virus is still very much amongst us despite over 20 years research and treatment. However serious the theme was, you would never have guessed it from the rowdiness and jubilation of the crowds. It was a great excuse to party in gay Paris!
In that aspect, Paris reminds me of New Orleans. It is the same mentality of using any large gathering irregardless of the intent, as a means to have fun. The French absolutely adore manifestations protesting this and that. Teachers on strike or rail workers wanting higher retirement payments ,they parade the streets singing, dancing, with barbecues going on the side.
Getting back to real reason of the parade yesterday, I do agree that Aids awareness has been on the back burner for a while. Terrorism, wars, middle eastern violence and financial crisis and woes have superseded in getting our attention.
But HIV is still with us, though deaths are down worldwide from previous levels. The most affected countries are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa, followed by South Asia and South-east Asia. There are increasing rates of infection in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, notably in Russia, Ukraine and Estonia. This was said to be due to an increase in injecting drug abuse there. I find it shocking that antiretroviral medications are reportedly more available in Sub-Saharan and South Africa than in Eastern Europe!
Western Europe and Central Europe have the least cases and deaths due to preventive measures and ease of obtaining antiretroviral medication. I do not know about other European capitols, but Paris has for many years publicly pushed for condom use by cute eye-catching billboards. The latest one is a condom “man” with a big smile and hands saying “Hi, I am your friend”.
Apparently sexually engaged seniors are not paying much attention these days to safe sex. A previously published study in 2005 that found that 15% of newly diagnosed HIV cases were in those over 50 years of age. Perhaps this trend is continuing if one considers that other sexually transmitted diseases, including syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea in seniors is up as well.
The Student British Medical Journal published a study this year stating that American, Canadian and British cases of STD’s in the over 50 crowd has doubled since 2000. Viagra was implicated as one of the causes of this rise as a sexual facilitator for the senior male, as well as decreased immune response in older people.
In some ways seniors and adolescents might have similar mindsets these days. Today’s adolescents consider themselves invulnerable because of their innocence and youth, while seniors may consider themselves invulnerable due to having already survived all those years and being plain naive about STD’s.
The primary rational of the Love Life Parade yesterday was to resensitise the populace about HIV. It certainly was wildly popular with thousands of youths I kept bumping into in all their energetic enthusiasm. But given the fact that seniors are enjoying much longer sex lives and are increasingly involved with STD rates, it is too bad that I was only one of a few of over 50’s in the crowd.