[dudul]

Not lately no, been married 12 years. But I don't remember ever hearing about debates as heated as masks around condoms.

Yeah there are fringe groups advocating for no birth control and all, but what's really their market share? Doesn't sound similar to the big divide we had a few years ago over masks.

[stemlord]

I am a millennial but my understanding is that many gay men scoffed at condom use pre-AIDS, in the 70s, the same way many today scoff at mask use. This is the way it's generally been described by older gay men I know and documentaries and movies. Not to necessarily equate the health risk between the two scenarios, just equating the public sentiment during the beginning stages of a major public health crisis.

It is why from my perspective the gay community at large has an intimate relationship with the phrase "new normal" because it seems like gay men's cultural understanding of what a healthy sex life looks like truly changed more or less permanently since the AIDS epidemic.

[kbos87]

There has definitely been a lasting effect in that gay men who have resources tend to be very well educated and proactive about their health. Everyone is on PreP. As a result of that, condom use has definitely become the exception and not the rule again over the past five or so years.

[stemlord]

Yeah for sure, I'm not denying that condom use is now dropping. But it requires that the daily pill gets taken or do whatever else it is that needs to be done that constitutes safe sex today.