The barriers for a gay man accessing preventative medications like PrEP and DoxyPEP have been falling like dominoes. For most people with insurance it’s now free and even without it the monthly price has come down to well less than a night out to a club.
As a sexually active man in my mid-fifties who has been on PrEP now for over seven years and this year added DoxyPEP to my arsenal I can attest to the peace of mind it offers up when engaging with other men. Knowing you are protected allows more sensual freedoms, less mental and social barriers in the act and the complete absence of fear around contracting an STI no matter the situation.
It makes me sad when I meet up with someone who is still living in the cage of worry, wary of engaging in sex or shackled to the mental barriers of fully going all out in their encounters because they are not fully protected. I just want to say, ”honey it doesn’t have to be this way”. Sometimes I do.
At this point in the game there’s no excuse not to be protecting yourself and others from HIV as well as other STIs (sexually transmitted infections). PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) for HIV has been around for over a decade. With a variety of medications available PrEP has been proven 99.9% effective at preventing an HIV infection even if you get a warm juicy injection of the hottest load out there.
DoxyPEP and DoxyPREP regiments which use the antibiotic Doxycycline are also now available to provide an effective post or pre-exposure treatment for STIs like syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea. Depending on your activity level and exposure risk your doctor can set you up on something that provides up a 70-90% effective prevention rate for these common infections.
Money Is No Longer An Object
Today the cost barriers are all but gone. Both of these options are no longer that expensive and for a vast majority of people are completely free. Most commercial health insurance and government funded insurances will cover PrEP medications as well as the associated routine doctor visits and testing with little or no co-pay.
If you don’t have a doctor you are comfortable with around these topics or just the idea of going to one icks you out, there are now a number of 100% discrete online solutions that offer telehealth, self test and medications shipped to your door. You’ve likely heard of many of them like Hims or Mistr.
I recently got a chance to speak with a guy from a new service available called Freddie. Named in honor of Freddie Mercury, it’s an online medical consultation, testing and prescription service for PrEP and DoxyPEP.
Like other services Freddie offers completely free online consultation and telehealth clinical services, at home self testing via mail and discrete shipping of medications to your door. As the cute rep from Freddie said with a giggle, the package doesn’t say “Bareback Whore” anywhere on it in large print. Currently Freddie accepts almost all commercial health insurance and is focused on offering customers top notch clinical services.
What sets them apart from the other online services is that they partner with local outreach organizations in the states where they are available. While the services, testing and medications are free to us the consumers, a significant part of their proceeds is shared with the local outreach organizations they’ve partnered with.
This allows the local groups to grow and prosper, expand their own services to more of our community.
In my case the local org is RipplePHX in Arizona who provides a range of outreach services like free HIV testing at events, navigation services for HIV, PrEP and DoxyPEP programs, sexual health advice and more.
Because of this format, Freddie is currently only available in seven states, Arizona, California, Florida, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. They are however working on partnerships with other states as I write this so if they’re not available where you are keep checking back as the list is growing.
No Matter What
Even if you have to pay for PrEP or DoxyPEP out of pocket, they are no longer an expensive proposition. Generic medications are now available for PrEP that can be as little as $30 a month cash out of pocket. DoxyPEP at retail rates can also be had for mere dollars a month.
That’s not a bad price to pay for unbridled spontaneous bareback fuck encounters in the dark corners with everyone you want and never worry about it sex. If you think about it, it’s a bargain really.
Some of you are clutching your pearls and saying, ‘I’m just not a whore like that”. Maybe you are only sexually active once in a while. That’s great but you are actually the one most at risk – especially one who should consider either or both these preventative measures for that one or two times it does happen.
No Stigma Dammit
It’s gotten better. But when PrEP and now as DoxyPEP has rolled out there are still of people in our community who look down upon these measures. I still hear the occasional quiet comments throwing shade by nose in the air “A-Gays” making like they would never do such a thing. Come on now.
At some point we all want it, we came for it and we do it. At least we should. We paid a high price to get here so why not make it worth the hard fought war. Our sex powers and ability to connect with other people are God given in my view. We should honor these gifts by using them and using them often. Spread the love, it’s what God wants.
Most important, PrEP and DoxyPEP are as much about protecting the men you fuck as it is for you. It gives both you and your partners freedom and safety. It gives everyone you’re with peace of mind which can lead to better sex, better connections and perhaps even more.
There is nothing fun about having to discriminate who you love over worries of contracting an infection. We should not have to shut anyone out of our lives for these reasons. It’s not fair to them or us. So get with the program men.
If you’re still ashamed, you are still free to just keep it to yourself. It can be both free and discrete.
Smoker of fine tires, eater of natural foods, connoisseur of aromatic leathers, pusher of limits.