Forgive us for existing!

Some people over the Internet say we must not make fun of each other involving our disability and HIV conditions. Why on Earth must we explain and justify our existence to this world? Why can’t we simply exist and live our own normal life? With sadness, happiness and even laugh.

Fed up of repeating same things!

Despite we have explained it for years, we yet have to talk about the reason we built our web site: fight against discrimination and stigma through satire. We try to use sarcasm towards people who spread hate speech and fake news.

This is an inclusive blog, so no one is cut off from our mockery: media, institutions and anyone living in 1980s’ unfounded prejudices ignoring science advancements and discriminating HIV positive people in relationships, work, family, even in health care settings.

It’s painful to admit that we were completely wrong in our hope: could COVID-related social distancing bring major empathy for HIV-positive people? In a civil society it should, as anyone suffers without physical relationships. But in this real world paranoid people are more frequent than before.

Understanding our reasons implies knowing satire: since older times this kind of communication helps public reflecting about what’s wrong in society, making fun of powerful privileged groups but “power” is not just intended as politics or religion, everything influencing our lives negatively is power, illness and death included. Irony about death is to exorcise it, while making fun of a dead person would mean being all the way coward. This is the basic concept.

What’s satire? What’s bullying?

It seems difficult for the public to distinguish between satire and bullying because on media vulgarities are often proposed as “satire”, such as the f-word; however, it is different when the same term is used in an ironic sense by a gay man who is making fun of himself. Does offense come from intention, rather than words? It depends, leave the decision to those who suffer hatred due to their sex orientation! Never talk about us without us. Free speech has nothing to do with free insult.

Bullying is so easy but satire, on the other hand, is complex because perspective has to change: mockery’s targets must be all those folks feeling untouchable thanks to privileged positions.

For our part, we created this blog to exorcise our mutual conditions subject to stigma since the dawn of time.

Here we are, we exist!

Elettrona, born Elena, has been blind since birth, HIV-negative, formerly partnered with an HIV positive man. They both have been involved in quite a few activism initiative as the guy’s HIV status is publicly known, including an Italian video where they swig out of a water bottle together as a demonstration of how stupid some old fears are – it was one year before covid, that virus can be transmitted this way instead.

Alex “Gifter”, sighted and living with HIV, has made a different choice: he discloses his status only to people he’s confident with: his husband of course, close friends, family members, colleagues, and health care providers but he currently has no interest in public activism.

Will he ever change his mind? It’s his own business and must be respected as it is, coming out with HIV status is a personal decision.

So please, don’t accuse us of making fun people who suffer stigma, that’d be an unforgivable lie. We have been clear enough on our About Us page and if you criticize us without being informed about our activities, the problem is yours.

Now let’s talk frankly: we think that we make some people upset because we don’t fit the stereotype of a blind person in perpetual self-pity or someone with HIV feeling ashamed of their condition, nor a public activist who joins every HIV-related event.

Are we performative activists harming the community? And why? We are just doing our best for a cause we care for, within the limits of our possibilities; so we’d like constructive feedback rather than sterile controversies.

PS: if we laugh at offenders, it is not because we play along. We simply judge them miserable and think they are too stupid to realize they’re harassing us.

We close this post with a recommendation: haters, please get a life on your own and leave us alone.