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GHETTOHEAT--DID YOU KNOW?


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DID YOU KNOW?...

By Alina Oswald, A & U Magazine (America’s AIDS Magazine), August 2006

 

 

Alina Oswald Talks with Harlem-Based Publisher HICKSON About Getting the Word Out About HIV.

 

Did you know...that HIV circulates in prison through unprotected sex?

That condoms are not allowed in prison, in order to not advocate sex?

That convicts often use potato chip bags or latex gloves as condoms?

 

They also use Vaseline, which eats out the latex…. That HIV-positive convicts rarely receive treatment? Or when they do, medical professionals do not monitor it? Same goes for hormone therapies for transgenders. That transgenders are at high risk for getting infected with HIV, especially those who are forced to buy cheap, black market injectable hormones? Why should we care?

 

“I get this [question] a lot at book signings,” HICKSON—who goes only by his family name—tells me during our phone interview. “The real issue is HIV/AIDS,” the founder and CEO of GHETTOHEAT® explains. Set in the heart of Harlem, his multimedia company publishes books that explore off-mainstream topics like the ones mentioned above. The newest GHETTOHEAT® production is CONVICT’S CANDY, a novel based on the true prison experiences of its co-authors—DAMON “AMIN” MEADOWS and JASON POOLE. The story follows in the footsteps of Candy, a victimized transsexual who is arrested on credit card scam charges, only a week away from the surgery that would give “her” the body of the woman “she” really is.

 

Locked up with the other male convicts, Candy learns about prison life through sexual harassment, violence, stigma, and HIV exposure. She learns that the prison rule: “what happens in prison, stays in prison”—does indeed have its own exception—HIV/AIDS. While the novel doesn’t leave anything out when exposing the reality of living behind bars, CONVICT’S CANDY offers a lesson on how not to get HIV—adding to the fight against the pandemic. “I was really impressed with CONVICT’S CANDY,” HICKSON comments, “not only because the authors were writing [it] from prison, [but because, while] not many convicts touch on HIV/AIDS issues, [they] are very passionate about the topic.”

 

Because too many of his friends are battling the disease, HICKSON is also passionate about educating people, especially the younger generation (whose members he calls “rebels without a cause”) on how not to contract HIV. He believes that HIV infections will continue to rise and that the numbers will not go down soon for two reasons: people’s recklessness and the Internet. Also, when using alcohol, meth, or other drugs that impair their judgment, people engage in unprotected sex. And sometimes sex itself becomes a “feel good” medicine…a drug.

But does the polar opposite of sex with multiple partners work? HICKSON believes that abstinence doesn’t work either, because everything today revolves around sex, starting with BET and MTV. “People on TV become local heroes [to youth],” he comments. “Values have changed,” he says talking about the fast tracks of our lives, as we focus more on work and less on spending quality time with our families. Parents are busy with work and often leave their children alone at home with too much time to watch TV.

 

Internet dating also fuels HIV infections. People meet first on the Internet and then in person. An example would be, say, an HIV-positive flight attendant involved in Internet dating who can set up numerous meetings with people all over the globe…and lead to a “world disaster,” HICKSON theorizes. But is there a solution in sight? HICKSON is an advocate for safer sex, helping spread the word through his monthly GHETTOHEAT® newsletter. As for raising awareness about the dangers of HIV, HICKSON points out that someone well-known needs to come out and talk about today’s HIV/AIDS issues and have a similar effect over people’s understanding of AIDS as Rock Hudson did in the mid-eighties. For more information about GHETTOHEAT®, log on to WWW.GHETTOHEAT.COM.

 

Alina Oswald is a freelance writer, whose works have appeared in national and international publications.

 

 

CONVICT'S CANDY

WRITTEN BY DAMON "AMIN" MEADOWS & JASON POOLE

CONVICT'S CANDY

EDITED BY HICKSON

CONVICT'S CANDY

A GHETTOHEAT® PRODUCTION

 

EBOOK & PAPERBACK: SOLD & DISTRIBUTED EXCLUSIVELY AT GHETTOHEAT®!

 

HICKSON: CEO of GHETTOHEAT® & GHETTOHEAT® TV!

 

GHETTOHEAT® PRODUCTIONS:

 

GHETTOHEAT® 
CONVICT’S CANDY 
HARDER 
AND GOD CREATED WOMAN 
LONDON REIGN 
SONZ OF DARKNESS 
TANTRUM 
HICKSONBELIKE... 
LOVE DON’T LOVE NOBODY 
THICKNESS 
GHOST TOWN HUSTLERS 
BANJEE CUNT 
ULTRAFABNABULOUS 
BROTHERS BEHIND BARS 
SO SEXY 
TOUGH 
MR. GHETTOHEAT® 
SKATE ON! 
GHETTOHEAT® EATS 
TURF 
GHETTOHEAT® MAGAZINE!

 

GHETTOHEAT® | P.O. BOX 2746 | NEW YORK, NY 10027 

 

GHETTOHEAT®: THE HOTNESS IN THE STREETS!!!™

 

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#GHETTOHEATCOM

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