The Right to Infect

Just because a man makes the decision to use a condom does not mean he is weak and fears becoming pregnant, so why does it offend someone's sense of masculinity to wear a mask to protect others from potential transmission of Covid-19?  

A man wears a condom to protect someone he loves from getting a dreaded disease or having an unwanted pregnancy, right?  So everyone, men and women, should willingly wear masks and gloves to slow down the transmission of Covid-19, by the same logic. 

Then I realized how foolish and naive I am.  The fact of the matter is that in this society, it is indeed a sign of great weakness to wear a condom and to give consideration to the needs of others.  The numbers say that there are enormous numbers of HIV, HERPES, STD and unwanted pregnancies routinely transmitted. The New York Times reported that at any point in time there are 110 million sexually transmitted diseases in the US.  I found that number hard to believe, but checking with the Center for Disease Control in the US, they claim there are 24 million new cases of sexually transmitted cases per year.  That is several times higher than the birth rate.  So totally preventable diseases are more or less freely transmitted in American society.  It is the norm.  

The numbers show that men surely do NOT protect their lovers from these terrible outcomes.  I joked about men having no fear of becoming pregnant, but they are not afraid of getting women pregnant, either.   Condom companies are obviously lousy investments, because evidently almost nobody is using them.  

If you are one of the few men who are using a condom, God bless you.

Evidently, however, many men are willfully transmitting these diseases to women who foolishly trust that their men are telling the truth that they do not have the ability to transmit these diseases ("trust me, I'm sure I'm clean, baby") or that they are willing to be responsible for the outcome ("of course I'll respect you in the morning!").  These are lies, of course.  Numbers this huge cannot be accidental.  There is a very high probability of transmitting the disease, not like Covid-19 in which at any point in time the chances of being a transmitting carrier is rather low.  

Hence, there is a pervasive belief in the right to infect others, and the right to lie.  So if men are not going to wear condoms and are willing to tell lies in order to avoid using them, they sure as hell do not care one iota about wearing a mask to save your life from Covid-19.  Get serious.  Protecting the health of a random member of the public from a serious but usually temporary illness is just not that high of a priority once they have deliberately given their lover a disease that may have lifetime implications. 

Only a minority of people are considerate enough to take even the smallest of actions to help each other..  The rest are just going to cough on you and feel that it is part of their constitutional rights.   It probably isn't, but you would have to go to court to prove it, so good luck with that.     

For that matter, if you get too close, you may also wind up with herpes, AIDS, venereal disease and what will you name the baby?   

No mask.

No condom.

No responsibility. 

No regrets.

In that context, it is very understandable why many people, especially men are offended by the idea of being asked to wear a mask.  Sadly, it is considered un-American by many of us and will take a long time to change.  

I'm wearing my masks and gloves anyway, to protect even stupid people who believe I am un-American and unmasculine.  I accept those terms.