globalmappingofpleasure

Victorian AIDS Council/
Gay Men’s Health Centre
Helping gay men ‘get off’ on tea towels
Victorian AIDS Council/
Gay Men’s Health Centre
6 Claremont St
South Yarra
Victoria 3141
Australia
Tel +61 9865 6700
Web www.protection.org.au
Some images were also printed onto tea towels and
distributed at parties, another way of getting the
safer-sex message into homes. They have received
feedback that the tea towels, in particular, are great
talking points in men’s homes.
Researchers in Australia found that there had been
an increase in HIV prevalence since 2000 and that
many new cases of HIV were among men who are
aware of safer-sex messages, know that condoms
prevent HIV, and are older. So the Victorian AIDS
Council (VAC) launched a unique campaign with
the message: ‘You can have lots of good sex and
use condoms’.
VAC’s campaign featured a super-sexy, explicit
website targeted specifically at older men in the
gay community. The programme’s managers
explained that it is much better to do a sexy safersex
campaign if it is targeted, because sexual
pleasure is so subjective. The erotic images used
on the website and other materials were provided
for free by Australia’s only self-proclaimed safer-sex
gay porn site, www.hothouse.com. The owner of
Hothouse said he supported the campaign because
the gay community wanted messages, not from the
doctor or the Ministry of Health, but “from someone
who was doing it”. The images are highly erotic,
with a banner of safer-sex information covering the
models’ genitals.
In addition to information about ‘The basics’ and
‘Testing’, the website includes pages entitled ‘Sexual
Adventurism’ (about fisting, orgies, blindfolds and
gags, bondage and sado-masochism, and more, in
a safe and sexy way), ‘Staying Hard’ (how to keep it
up with condoms), and ‘In the Heat of the Moment’
(how to slip safer sex into sex play in a sexy way).
VAC found that posters with the sexy images and safersex
messages, which were used at sex parties, were
removed from venues after couple of days. They felt
this was good news because it meant the information
was getting into people’s homes, and hopefully, their
bedrooms. Some images were also printed onto tea
towels and distributed at parties, another way of
getting the safer-sex message into homes. They have
received feedback that the tea towels, in particular,
are great talking points in men’s homes.
In addition to these materials, VAC produced a
booklet with the homepage image, featuring a
scratch-off banner that covers the men’s genitals.
People can scratch off the banner, like a lottery
card, to reveal the sexy bits underneath.
...the gay community wanted messages, not from the
doctor or the Ministry of Health, but “from someone who
was doing it”. The images are highly erotic, with a banner
of safer-sex information covering the models’ genitals.
about the Victorian AIDS Council’s sexy HIV prevention campaign for gay men (www.protection.org.au), Australia
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