DDF—You Be Too

• Posted by Travis Hollister May 12, 2021 - Filed in Hookup Culture - #PrEP  #STI  #STD  #TasP  #App Profiles  - 3,577 views

  I see a lot of profiles in apps such as Grindr and Scruff where guys post DDF—you be too. In case you do not know what DDF means, it is short for drug and disease free. In this article I will not address the drug aspect, just the disease part.

  Guys, I implore you not to use this phrase or anything like it in your profiles. It makes you sound ignorant and discriminatory. Let me point out a few reasons why…

  If you think using a cliché like DDF—You Be too is going to discourage people with sexually transmittable infections (STIs aka STDs) from hitting you up, you are naïve. First off, most men with STI’s do not even know they have one (or more) until the STI expresses itself. Some STIs do not express themselves at all and are not detected until the infected person is tested. And unfortunately, there are some guys out there that just do not give a damn and would not even tell you if they knew. Bastards!

  You sound discriminatory because some men have HIV which has no cure. These men are not bad people. Most times they caught it because they trusted someone who either let them down, or did not even know they were infected. Fortunately, there is treatment for HIV. Antiretrovirals can lower the infection so low as to be undetectable. This treatment is often referred to as TasP or treatment as prevention. When a person on TasP is undetectable (meaning the virus is undetected in their blood), they are unable to transmit the virus to others or U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable). If you are sexually active, getting on PrEP is a great way to protect yourself. PrEP stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis. When taken daily it is 99% effective in preventing HIV infection. With regards to HIV infection, the safest condom free (bareback or BB) sex you can have is to be on PrEP and have sex with a person that is on TasP. It is virtually impossible to catch HIV. However, PrEP and TasP will not protect you from catching other STIs.

  If you are a sexually active person catching an STI is inevitable. One in two sexually active people will catch an STI by age 25. It is not something to freak out about especially when compared to other socially transmittable diseases. Take for instance the common flue. Most STIs are a minor inconvenience but are treatable and gone within a few days thanks to antibiotics. Not so with the flue. Catch the flue and you are down for several days, will absolutely feel miserable, and there is nothing you can do about it. Some people recover more quickly than others, but some do not recover at all. In the United States, for an average year, the flue claims between 34,000 to 43,000 lives, according to the CDC.

  And finally, No one else but you is responsible for your sexual health and safety. If you are really concerned about catching an STI, wear a condom and make it a requirement in your profile. Explicitly state you require condoms so there is no ambiguity about what you expect.  Beware though, you can still catch an STI through touch, oral sex, rimming, etc. even if you use a condom.

  You can learn more about various STIs by visiting the Planned Parenthood webpage: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/stds-hiv-safer-sex?gclid=CjwKCAjw7diEBhB-EiwAskVi121w9GHBvhsIu7bKnQ6iAxWvxFnI-n9b4mLhjHNIXTHT1jILThmllxoCsW4QAvD_BwE