Invitation to speak at the United Nations, Geneva


Jason Domino, accompanied by Ashton Bradley, attended the Human Rights Social Forum 2017 in Palais des Nations, Geneva. On the first day, Jason spoke about the importance of specifically reaching out to people with mental health complications with education around things like PrEP. The described group is commonly vulnerable but often overlooked when it comes to HIV and their sex lives in general. Correlations between HIV and autism support the argument that more tailored sexual education is important.

The second day Jason spoke about activism coming from the porn industry, and the work of Porn4PrEP in collaboration with healthcare institutions. The work was highlighted along with the teaching approach of context-dependent memory: a psychological principle that found when a learner is in the same emotional state as when they learned information, they can recall that information 50% better. This principle is well-known and applied in many industries but rarely applied to sex education. If harm from STIs is to be taken seriously, the approach should be explored. Porn4PrEP was doing just that.

The third day Jason reminded those in the forum the importance of not separating HIV stigma from homophobia, as he had noticed during attendance. Yes, not everyone who catches HIV is a gay man. But addressing homophobia is a very direct way of reducing HIV stigma, which has become very intertwined culturally. Reducing homophobia can reduce barriers for some people coming in for HIV testing, regardless of their sexuality. Jason listed a number of effective ways that homophobia can be addressed: from the obvious, such as decriminalisation in nations; to the often overlooked, such as perspectives addressing hygiene fears surrounding anal sex by making douching more common knowledge. Other methods included the alternative interpretations of original Abrahamic faith texts. A link was made between patriarchal cultures and seeing homosexuality as more feminine, suggesting that gay men could be treated with less respect in this circumstance. All these approaches had impacts on HIV rates by fear of association.

During the forum, Jason and Ashton participated and spoke in a number of specialist sessions, such as asking what the world had learned from watching the UK try for PrEP. Porn4PrEP was well received and made its mark for porn actors.

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