The pair hookup, but both get more than they bargain for | Photo: 56 Dean Street
When was the last time you went to a sexual health clinic for a HIV test – with a hookup?
It might sound like your worst, embarrassing nightmare. But it also may prevent you from getting HIV.
That’s what a new short film series from London sexual health clinic 56 Dean Street.
It follows Joe, played by Denholm Spurr, who despite his online persona of popularity and happiness – is actually quite lonely. So when he turns to Grindr to fill the gap, he gets more than he bargained for in his hookup Adam (Taofique Folarin).
In part one of the series, played as part of Gay Star News’s Digital Pride, we follow their unlikely but adorable hookup. It’s the start of a sexy and budding romance.
But it all turns awry when one of the pair gets a phone call in the morning with news of an STI. The end of the episode sees him march the pair of them to a clinic for an STI check-up.
But in episode two, a simple case of Gonorrhea sees the duo having to deal with a positive HIV test and a month on emergency medication:
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‘If I don’t have to take a pill every day, then it’s like it’s not there’
In episode one, Adam says he doesn’t need to get tested because he doesn’t have sex with people who would have HIV.
‘Only having sex with people who you believe to be HIV-negative is a poor strategy,’ Matthew Hodson, Executive Director of Aids Map tells Gay Star News.
Hodson plays the sexual health worker in the video.
‘But there are several safer sex strategies that gay men can adopt to remain HIV-negative. Not all of them are as effective as each other. As a single strategy, PrEP is the most effective. It’s a daily pill, if you take it as directed it’s almost 100% effective. Condoms have the additional benefit of preventing other STIs.’
The writer of the series Pat Cash, who works at 56 Dean Street, says the clinic often sees guys who don’t identify as gay or even bi at the clinic but do have sex with men:
‘They’d never meet up with anybody who says they’re living with HIV on Grindr; but paradoxically, if someone’s living with HIV and is undetectable on treatment there is zero risk of transmission, as opposed to the comparatively far higher risk of sleeping with a guy who doesn’t know his status and isn’t tested regularly.
‘Of course, Adam isn’t aware of any of this information, and therefore his diagnosis is a complete surprise for him.
‘The question is in Episode 2, will he allow the diagnosis to be a turning point for his life, or will he coop it up with his sexuality?’
Read more from Gay Star News:
This film sums up the hidden meaning of Grindr messages everywhere
Advice for gay and bi men arranging to meet others via dating apps
