“He can't be Poz, he's Fat!”

Being fat and hiv positive is still seen as an oxymoron by many. How many times have I heard “He can't be Poz, he's fat!”. The world in general, and the Gay world in specific sees the stereotypical Gay Poz Man as a sort of Rwandan refugee. The images of early victims, especially the Benetton photo, have embedded this stereotype in the general consciousness.

The reality is that approximately 30% of Gay Poz Men in western europe are overweight. Personally I think this has at least something to do with the approximately 25% of them being severely depressed. I know I eat when I'm depressed, even though the psychiatrists say that the tendency is to under-eat when depressed.

Back when survival was of the utmost importance, and a few kilos were of no importance whatsoever, then no-one was going to look at where it was coming from.

Now we know that if the hiv meds aren't the fat magnet, then the anti-depressants, tranquilizers, painkillers, and/or sleeping tablets are. A Gay Poz Man can go through being 0% body fat one minute to being 30 kilos overweight the next. The magic median is very difficult to achieve, especially with the 'new survivors' of middle aged Gay Poz Men.

You can say what you like about the harms of smoking for Gay Poz Men, but it did keep us thin and gorgeous. Without being too flippant, drug abuse meant never having to eat during a weekend either. Constant (sex)exercise during every waking hour has been replaced by a new sort of 'responsibility', anxious of scary quality of life threatening STD's we stay at home and knit egg warmers and eat ....