"Only fuck with rubber!". This rule was enforced for many years. For some time now, however, science has shown that safer sex is also possible without a condom - as demonstrated by protection through therapy or PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). The latter prevention option in particular is currently causing a furore. The principle: HIV-negative people take a tablet every day to protect themselves against HIV. What has been officially recommended in the USA since 2012 is currently only possible in the EU via detours. A scandal, says Emmanuel, among others. The 30-year-old Berlin-based PrEP activist with French-Israeli roots can hardly imagine life without the protection provided by the tablet.
Emmanuel, you moved to Berlin five years ago. What did you think about safer sex in the past?
Until then, my view of the world was quite simple: we almost all use rubbers. Sometimes an accident happens and an infection can occur, but ultimately everyone knows the risks and gets tested regularly. The only way to be able to fuck without a rubber is in a monogamous partnership, after you have been tested together. Only then can you get the official "stamp" authorising you to fuck without a condom.
But the world wasn't that simple after all.
Yes, because it became increasingly clear that the traditional black and white thinking no longer works: "positive" and "negative" or "safe" and "unsafe" - what does that mean today? We now know that an HIV-positive person on successful HIV treatment cannot become infected. On the other hand, there are many supposedly HIV-negative people who are unaware of their infection and are travelling without a condom...
Time and experience have shown me that a lot of guys don't use rubbers after all, or only under pressure. I was often rejected because I didn't want to fuck bareback. Then there were also two cases where the rubber "disappeared" or "slipped away". - That broke my sense of security and control.
And what led you to PrEP?
I came to a point where I had to decide: either I live in constant fear of HIV, which is why I can't enjoy sex without restrictions. Or I give up and accept that HIV is not an "if" but a "when". I've always met young men with this attitude: "I'm going to get HIV at some point anyway. When it happens, I'll just get treatment." But this attitude was out of the question for me.
Fortunately, I found out about PrEP at this point and knew immediately that this was exactly the third option I needed.
What did those around you say when you started PrEP? What were their reactions?
That was very different. Straight people actually liked it very much. Gays, on the other hand, had problems with it and were sometimes quite moralistic. I think this has to do with the fact that after 30 years of the "condom only" message, some gays find it difficult to give up this almost sacred message. After all, we have all learnt that anal intercourse without a condom is a "sin". And now comes someone who thinks that sex without a condom is no longer unsafe?
Has your sex life changed with PrEP?
I had a pretty wild time with PrEP at the beginning and tried a lot of things (laughs)... And now I know better where my limits are. The much bigger change ultimately took place in my head and not between my legs. Suddenly I was able to allow and feel a closeness and intimacy that I hadn't known before. My everyday life has also been different since then. The fear of HIV was often at the back of my mind - these constant calculations about who I did what with and where there could be a risk have stopped with PrEP. Before PrEP, I had no idea how much influence fear had on my whole life - and not just my sex life.
What do you say to opponents who claim that PrEP opens the door to other sexually transmitted infections?
Everyone who takes PrEP under medical supervision is tested for STIs every 3 months and treated if necessary. Yes, there's plenty of other rubbish. These are mostly smear infections against which condoms only provide partial protection, and half of the cases are often asymptomatic. Anyone who claims that they don't need to go to the doctor for regular smear tests because they always fuck with a condom and have no symptoms is lulling themselves and their partners into a false sense of security.
PrEP could change the situation - finally, the very men who could benefit most from it would seek frequent medical advice and get tested for STIs! Couldn't this even lead to a reversal of the gonorrhoea epidemic?
You started campaigning for PrEP as an activist. Why did you do this?
Because I find it sad that young gay men consciously take the risk of infection when a new, additional protection option has been available for 4 years! And also because I find it unacceptable that access to PrEP is almost impossible in Germany. If the issue wasn't so morally charged, or if HIV was a problem for the hetero community, PrEP would have been available long ago. I want to make access to PrEP easier for others in the community.
How are you specifically campaigning for PrEP?
I started a Planetromeo club to spread information about how to get PrEP in Germany ("PrEP-info-DE"). But of course that's not enough. As a next step, we hope to have our own website and a Facebook group soon. There are other activists who are doing a lot - for example the LoveLazers, or PANSY, which is organising a monthly evening about sex and drugs from 28.04.2016: https://www.facebook.com/LetsTalkAboutSexAndDrugs
PrEP is already a reality. Let's not miss the chance to use it properly. This is the only way we have a chance of reducing the rate of new HIV infections!
