Partners
digitally divulge STD info
By
Bobby Chore
Summer Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
Socially, it is something people wish not to discuss. Sex partners who are
embarrassed to confront each other about being infected by an STD, are given
a chance with an “indirect” option by Internet Sexuality Information
Services (ISIS), who has developed the Internet Notification Service for Partners
or Tricks, better known as InSPOT.
Originating in San Francisco, InSPOT was developed as a way for people to inform
their partners about contracting an STD through email communication, therefore
eluding the verbal approach.
ISIS began the InSPOT program last October, originally with the intent of helping
gay and bisexual men. However, the service has reached out to all kinds of
relationships, and 750 people visit the service per day.
The service includes e-cards conveying sayings and clever messages that refer
to the idea that the recipient has contracted an STD. There are e-cards for
gonorrhea, crabs, Chlamydia and syphilis.
Approximately 200 people per month send the e-cards, with 80 percent being
sent anonymously.
Tom Ken-nedy, director of communication for ISIS, explained a common motive
of InSPOT’s visitors.
“There’s some STDs that are reported to the city,” Kennedy
said. “When people track all this, they want to find out where they contracted
the disease, whether it be a sex club, bar or online chat room.”
Kennedy believes this program has an overall goal to diminish STD rates.
“The reason that STDs are such a problem is that people are too silent
when they get them,” Kennedy said. “People are stuck with STDs unknowingly.
Having an untreated STD increases chances of contraction.”
While the service has the potential to help reduce STD rates, some believe
it is not the honorable way to approach such a situation.
Robert Shepherd, a criminal justice major, finds e-mails to be misleading.
“Sending someone an e-mail about getting an STD is the not the safest way
to inform because you are put out there,” Shepherd said. “When someone
tells you face-to-face, you are really facing the truth.
You can tell by the body language and audio vibes. Internet and even phone
conversation tend to confuse the emotions. You never really know what someone
is thinking.”
Ryan Gates, a history major, believes the tactic of using e-mail does not develop
the relationship aspect.
“If you’re going to be honest about sex, you should tell them up
front,” Gates said. “There’s a better way to be personal with
someone than through a Web site.”
However, Kennedy said many of the users send e-cards to sex partners that they
barely know. More often, these people are never truly in relationships with
the partner, and tend to meet through the Internet. As a result, many of those
people inform their partner in the same way they met them.
Overall, InSPOT and ISIS are ascending to greater notoriety in society. Tom
Kennedy stresses that InSPOT’s intent is not to decrease other forms
of communication, but on assisting it.
“It eases the tension of the situation and makes it easier to deliver the
message,” Kennedy said. “InSPOT is helping to break that cycle of
silence.” |
