Something Positive for Positive People

Your partner contacts you and says they've tested positive for syphilis. You follow the protocol which is to go and get tested and treated at a medical clinic. You get there and are informed you have to come back after the weekend. You go to another place and are told you can't be treated. Even with insurance, what are some of the barriers that would hinder this simple process of someone receiving proper treatment? Dr. David Malebranche shares a story no one should have to experience with their health care provider to be seen about possible STI contraction.

About the guest:

David J. Malebranche, MD, MPH, is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician and expert in men's health, student health, racial inequities in medicine, and LGBT health, as well as the prevention and treatment of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI). He is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine and the Medical Director of Student & Employee Health at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Malebranche is an experienced qualitative HIV behavioral prevention researcher who has completed several studies on sexual health among Black men of diverse sexualities.

Dr. Malebranche has published over 50 articles in medical and public health journals such as The Annals of Internal Medicine, The American Journal of Public Health, JAMA, and the Lancet, He is known as a dynamic speaker worldwide and has appeared in documentaries on CNN, ABC News Primetime, TV One, and Black Entertainment Television (BET) for his expertise on HIV in the Black community. Dr. Malebranche served as a member of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) from 2006 – 2008 and was the HIV clinical expert on WebMD from 2010 - 2012. He also appears in the video series #AsktheHIVDoc, which promotes HIV education on prevention and treatment, and Revolutionary Health, a biweekly YouTube Live health web series that is part of The Counter Narrative Project, an advocacy organization for Black same gender loving men. In 2015, Dr. Malebranche published his first book, a memoir about his father entitled Standing on His Shoulders. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

Theydies and themtlemen, we open with the importance of pronouns, define queerness, discuss how attraction evolves, and some precautions positive vulva owners can take with their vulva owner partners. And PSA Coldsores are herpes.

When you meet good people doing good things, you try and help them do it better. Connected through a mutual friend, Tyler and I spoke about our nonprofit resources and how our goals aligned in the reproductive wellness space. It was when he talked specifically about the patient you’ll hear about in this episode who was met by compassion and empathy from a medical physician who exercised presence, you’ll understand why it was so important that he share that story and that space was created on this podcast for this organization that provides cervical cancer screenings fro women in Ecuador and its surrounding areas, and much more.

Our Mission is to provide comprehensive care that reaches the needs of underdeveloped communities through people and technology.

As the group continues to serve the population in rural Ecuador, Trek Coalition has a multifaceted approach to create a lasting impact for the patients it serves.

The short term goal is to partner with sustainable and trusted organizations that are already established in countries and provide them with professionals willing to help. These professionals can be in a multitude of medical disciplines including General Medicine, Ophthalmology, Pediatrics, OGBYN, Physical Therapy and Public Health.

The long term goal is to develop a technology platform that collects and stores patient records for in-country organizations. With greater insight into patient history and medical information, better care can be provided both in the short and long term. With our professional presence of physicians in-country, adequate training and education will grow in lockstep with our platform.

Visit https://trekcoalition.org/ for more information.

Please subscribe to, rate and review Something Positive for Positive People and share episodes with everyone ya can!

I share the details of the recent survey I took from listeners living with herpes about their initial negative emotional responses to their diagnosis and how listening to Something Positive for Positive People has helped them.

Trigger warning as we cover domestic abuse. Please protect yourself as we get to that part early on in the episode. Most of our focus is on self-image and body positivity.

Check your self-talk. If you have a hard time checking how you speak to yourself, then act out of accordance with those negative thoughts. Challenge hateful THOUGHTS with loving ACTIONS and see how that voice changes for you.

Please take the survey monkey to help us get in front of some very influential people who can make things happen for spfpp. One o my goals is to make finding support less challenging for people when they're diagnosed. Answering this two question survey gives me the data to get there (End date July 25, 2019): https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XMTLTL8

This is the event I hope to attend: http://www.ncsddc.org/std-engage-2019/

Thank you all for your support. With a $25+ donation to spfpp.org send me your t-shirt size and address if you're in the USA and I'll send you a t-shirt!

Stay sex positive!

About the guest:

Emily "Keanunani" Arnstein is a former ballerina who spent her young life struggling with self-image after being criticized by the dance community for not having the right body shape and size. As an adult, she overcame these negative thought patterns by developing self-talk strategies, understanding the "function" of the body as it relates to health and fitness rather than placing the value of self-worth on physical appearance, and surrounding herself by an accepting and supportive community. She now studies and performs Hawaiian hula (a body-positive and accepting dance community) and aims to pay forward her improved sense of self to help empower others to overcome challenges with health, fitness, and body image, and to help them recognize their ability to make positive changes in their own lives.

Website: teespring.com/stores/healthy-hula-girl

Instagram: @Healthyhulagirl

Facebook: Healthy Hula Girl

Primarily masculine identifying people connect with me about the quantitative information about herpes and the primarily feminine identifying people connect with me about the qualitative information about herpes.

I want to test this by getting more men on the podcast so fellas, let's step up. I know there's a fear around being vulnerable and open about sexuality and the feelings behind a diagnosis but it's the only way to lower boundaries and connect!

We gotta match that energy being expressed in this space.

If you have the means to do so, please consider donating to Something Positive for Positive People by visiting www.spfpp.org. This supports the podcast and getting people living with an STI with therapy if they're struggling with their diagnosis. If that's a lot for you right now, please leave a review on whatever podcast player you're listening on.

Stay Sex Positive!

One of my favorite people I've yet to meet in real life, Christie Federico, Sexuality & Soul Alignment Coach joins SPFPP for a very lighthearted, fun conversation about self-worth. Applied to dating, it is important to know who you are, what's important to you, and have ways to identify if what's important to you is also important to prospective partners. Get this dating advice from a dating coach and if you're someone who'd like support in your dating life, don't hesitate to reach out to Christie about coaching!

About Christie: Christie Federico, M.Ed., is a Relationship + Sexual Empowerment Coach. She works with individuals and groups, helping them feel confident and fully expressed in their bodies, sexualities, and entire lives. Christie empowers her clients to align all aspects of their lives with their authentic selves so they can lead a life of meaning, deep connection, pleasure, and fulfillment.

visit www.christiefederico.com and follow her on Instagram @christiefederico

If you have the means and want to support what we're doing at SPFPP, visit www.spfpp.org and consider donating what you can to help us continue to expand.

Stay Sex Positive!

So what do my ex’s have to do with this? Literally everything. I had this EXperience with anxiety, I EXplored the behavior and emotions behind them. Through this came a need to EXpress which I was not healthily doing before due to the lack of awareness. I took different action through that anxiety and used it as fuel for expression. Communicating this was challenging at first but the confidence that followed allowed me to share or EXchange with others in a vulnerable fashion which led to further EXpansion of my own perspective.

What do your Ex's have to teach you? Do we have the same ones making us EX-kimo siblings? haha that was a reach!

Stay Sex Positive!

I interview Soraia Papaya, who uses she/they pronouns. Whenever I go into an interview, I set the standard that I would probably say the wrong thing or ask a ridiculous question. Fortunately everyone so far has been cool in correcting me. I asked about their use of she/they pronouns, some stereotypes within stereotypes around bisexuality such as this inherent belief of hyper promiscuity, inherent nonmonogamy, and association with transphobia which was completely new to me. We talk about this bi erasure through a push toward pansexuality in order to not exclude trans folx. There’s also this idea that bisexual people aren’t sure of their sexuality, and Soraia talks through her own experiences facing some of these stereotypes on Episode 87 of Something Positive for Positive People.

I’d say until recent conversations, I’ve shared some beliefs in some misconceptions as well. The thing about assumptions is that we’re either so confident in them that they don’t come up, or they don’t come up because we fear receiving a negative response from the person we ask. It can almost be perceived as a form of rejection if we approach it from a right/wrong standpoint. It’s about allowing ourselves to be redirected so that we can be more connected. In being able to speak with Soraia and sharing it on SPFPP, I hope you’re able to challenge your own assumptions and allow for deeper, more evolved connections to take place in your life.

Find me at www.spfpp.org because that’s an expensive website and we need the traffic lol. Stay Sex Positive!

Soraia can be found on Instagram @transformativesexologist

Mentioned resources from this episode:

“Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution” by Shiri Eisner

Ella Dawson, known for her TEDx Talk titled 'STIs aren't a consequence. They're inevitable' which has received more than 500k views, steps out of retirement from herpes activism to share her experience as an activist. We talk about setting boundaries, dating sites, ways to avoid burnout during activism. This is encouragement not just for the herpes activists because it relates to all activism.