The_King

In 2019, the Straits Times wrote about a teacher pulling out her students’ bra straps during a “bra colour” inspection, leading students and parents to file complaints. In Singapore, it is not uncommon for secondary schools to police girls into wearing white or nude coloured bras instead of black or coloured ones. Reading this, I was brought back to my days in secondary school as a 13-year-old. I remember standing in a row with other girls in the school hall, berated for wearing a black bra. I remember once we were about to be sent home to change our undergarments after yet another attire check. As we stood there, an ah lian at the end of the row exclaimed flatly to the group, “AH! LIKE THAT, I JUST TAKE OFF MY BRA LA!!!” Everyone giggled at her remark, thinking how ludicrous that would be. But now that I think about it, it would be the most logical next course of action, as opposed to travelling all the way home. Especially considering how some of the girls lived over an hour away from school. While that transpired when I was a 13-year-old in 1999, this is still prevalent in many local schools today. For 20-year-old Maxine, who graduated secondary school a couple of years ago, this rule was still unofficially enforced during her primary and secondary schooling years. She mentioned that the rule “was not written in the handbook” but that “female teachers would pull students aside and tell them off” for wearing colourful undergarments. She said that “classmates used to make fun of girls whose bra collars were visible” and “it was more like an unspoken rule”. Teachers would say, “it’s unbecoming, or it’s very distracting”. When I was caught donning a colourful bra, I would often ask myself: why is this a rule? Was it because colourful bras are tempting to young boys, and are therefore too risque to wear? Was it because boys in Secondary school tease girls by snapping their bras, so, obviously, the girls need to change the colour of said bras to stop them? It was always ironic to me because most school uniform shirts are white, and what shines more under a white shirt than a white bra? And how are specific colours supposedly more sexual than others? The issue with policing bra colours The concept of policing bra colours sexualises the bra unnecessarily, and ergo, a young girl’s body parts. The fact that we place so much taboo on the colour of a bra, or effectively, a woman’s chest, is a symptom of a much larger issue. With these bra checks happening as early as in primary school, young girls are taught that their garments can make them exude sexual energy, even when they have no intention of it doing so. Still, as a young teen, I noticed that the boys in school weren’t getting the same kind of scrutiny over their attire as the girls. They weren’t getting checked for hemlines or the kind of underwear they wore the way girls were. Even if their fire engine red Boy London boxers accidentally peeked out, it was never as taboo as a coloured brassiere. As a teenager, I didn’t quite understand the nuance and eventually stopped questioning it. But as an adult, finding out it still happens, I wonder what our school system places emphasis on. Shouldn’t our teachers spend more time imparting knowledge on how to be kind, compassionate, and less judgmental, instead of policing clothing checks on our girls? But above all, bra checks don’t only exist within the realms of the school environment but create a ripple effect that travels far beyond. How bra checks shape society Let’s flash forward to 2021 after a Raeesah Khan speech in parliament caused a wave of women to speak up and voice out incidents of when Singapore Police have shamed them. Comedian Sharul Channa posted an Instagram post asking women to come forward with their experiences with Singapore Police when reporting sexual harassment or assault. The post garnered over 5,000 likes and over 600 comments from women who alleged to have experienced misguided remarks and responses from the Singapore Police. In the comment section, several came forward with stories of how they were asked to be mindful about what they wore. Sound familiar? The perpetrators are pushed into the background, while the women are asked about their outfits, undergarments, and if they “lead him on”. Comment under Comedian Sharul Channa’s Instagram post. Comment under Comedian Sharul Channa’s Instagram post. The reality is, since adolescence, it was our girls who were told to cover up, told what bras would make boys touch or tease them, and even punished when they didn’t adhere to these guidelines. And the boys? They would sit back and observe as their female counterparts had to alter their appearance to placate their desires. Our adolescent and teenage years form our basic understanding of the reality we live in and what values we latch on to. And it is in those years that we laughed off teachers eyeing our coloured bras, and how “sialan” Ah Boy was to pull on them, and how “sian” it was that we had to go home cos “kena caught” for wearing “illegal colour”. In those years, it was ingrained into our minds that it was not Ah Boy’s fault, but our own. It was in those years that Ah Boy learned that “sessy” bra means “can touch”. And well, you know, Ah Boys to Men, right? But as the butterfly effect highlights, a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in significant differences in a later state. So that little rule on the colour of our bras is precisely how society handles allegations of rape now. An unfair responsibility Beyond law enforcement and their mishandling of cases, young girls are taking on so much more emotional work and actual labour to “prevent their rapes” than people realise. It’s a vicious cycle perpetuated by law enforcement, politicians, and educators—people who are supposed to guide and protect us. Just look at the array of logos at the bottom of this poster that was once plastered all over our bus stops and MRTs. Poster made by the National Crime Prevention Council and the Singapore Police Force. The amount of pressure on women to “protect ourselves” can be incredibly overwhelming. We have to actively look for someone to escort us home, take the longer more busy route, avoid walking through dimly lit areas, shout for help, wear the right clothes, make sure our bra colour is white or nude, report sexual violence immediately (you don’t have the luxury of time to recover or have fear), consider said future of our rapists and predators (they have families too), and find credible witnesses—amongst a litany of other considerations. Still, I am not advocating being careless; I am simply asking us to think about the amount of labour it takes women to make sure no one asserts violence and dominance over them. When violence is asserted, integrity is questioned, and an additional layer of labour is piled—that is having to defend yourself as a victim in front of officers and the court. On the flip side, what labels of labour are being exercised on society’s perpetrators? What education are we exposing our men and women to that can lighten the load of this responsibility and make our world safer, more educated, and less violent? If school is a microcosm of society, what can we do in those character-building years to create an equal division on how to navigate sexuality and gender? It’s time we open a conversation with schools, educators, and those shaping the young minds of our society to reconsider what constitutes “appropriate school attire”. Does it start with a bra? Or does it begin with entitlement, a need for power in a powerless world, and the reinforcement of outdated gender roles and inequality? You be the judge.

THE increase in additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) rates for foreigners and property investors could cause Singapore's luxury residential market to lose some steam this year, following buoyant volumes and prices in 2021, CBRE analysts said. The Good Class Bungalow (GCB) segment enjoyed a banner year in 2021 as volumes and prices climbed to fresh highs. It posted a stellar performance in the first half of the year, and held steady in the second half despite year-end festivities and diminished supply. CBRE noted that 40 deals worth some S$1.22 billion were recorded in H2 2021, bringing the full-year tally to 99 with a total transaction value of S$3 billion. That surpassed the previous record of about S$2.43 billion set in 2010, and is nearly triple the S$1.09 billion in 2020. There were 19 GCB transactions that crossed the S$2,000 per square foot (psf) threshold last year. They drove the average GCB price up to S$1,771 psf, crossing the previous peak of S$1,617 psf in 2019. However, the rate of price growth across GCB locations varied. The research team noted that coveted addresses near the Botanic Gardens witnessed the biggest increases, while the price gains of bungalows in other areas were moderate. "In 2021, GCB activity was boosted by fresh demand from digital-economy entrepreneurs, key executives, and continued demand from new citizens," CBRE wrote. However, given the limited supply of GCBs available for sale, the firm expects the segment's sales momentum to ease in 2022. The analysts also said that the higher ABSD rates, introduced as part of the December 2021 cooling measures, are unlikely to affect demand for GCBs, as ultra-high-net-worth buyers typically allocate such bungalows as their first residential property. Meanwhile, Sentosa Cove properties saw higher transaction volumes last year owing to spillover demand from luxury homes on the mainland, and amid increased foreigner demand for landed housing. Last year, 26 bungalows in the waterfront enclave worth S$440.4 million were sold, more than double the transaction value in 2020, according to the CBRE report. Average prices of Sentosa Cove bungalows tracked higher to S$1,778 psf in 2021, as compared with S$1,727 psf in the previous year. As for non-landed units in Sentosa Cove, 128 homes worth S$516.9 million changed hands in 2021. This transaction value more than tripled from 2020, when 43 units amounting to S$159.4 million were sold. Correspondingly, the average transacted non-landed unit price was S$1,707 psf last year, up from S$1,488 psf in 2020. In the overall luxury apartment segment in Singapore, the number of transactions nearly doubled year on year. CBRE said that 247 caveats were lodged for luxury apartments in the Core Central Region (CCR) in 2021, with a total transaction value of roughly S$3 billion. In 2020, there were 130 caveats lodged for deals amounting to about S$1.31 billion. Notably, a penthouse at Les Maisons Nassim fetched S$75 million or S$6,210 psf in October. A record 15 units passed the S$5,000 psf threshold last year, with most of them at Park Nova in prime District 10. The average luxury apartment price, based on CBRE Research's basket of luxury freehold properties, thus rose to a new record of S$3,137 psf. While CBRE expects the higher ABSD rates imposed on foreigners and investors to moderate the overall sales momentum for luxury homes, it said that demand will nonetheless remain resilient due to rising rents and Singapore's safe-haven status amid geopolitical uncertainties.

@HarrisY

increase 300% la. Heng i dont need outside food

SINGAPORE - Since she took over her father's yong tau foo stall 13 years ago, Madam Lee Siew Khim had raised her food prices only once before, in 2019. Madam Lee, 50, who runs Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu at Chinatown Complex Food Centre, will be increasing prices at her stall from next month due to rising food costs. Her stall sells a bowl of six pieces of yong tau fu or a bowl of noodles or bee hoon with four pieces of yong tau fu for $3. They will go up to $3.50. Madam Lee is one of the 38 hawkers The Straits Times spoke to about how the Russia-Ukraine crisis and inflation have impacted their business. Seventeen of them said they will consider reviewing their food prices if supply costs and overheads continue to rise. Madam Lee said prices of ingredients have been creeping up over the past year. For instance, the cost of a 18kg tin of vegetable cooking oil is now $50, from $35 in March last year. She said: "I use three tins of vegetable cooking oil a week at my stall, so I spend about $150 on cooking oil per week. If I don't increase my food prices soon, it would be quite hard for me to sustain my profits." Mr Lee Yong Wen, 30, who runs Mr Meepok at a coffee shop in Clementi West, is also reviewing prices at his stall after the electricity bill rose by more than $1,000 last month. "The prices for many things, like eggs, have been increasing in the past weeks and are set to increase more in future. The inflation definitely hit us badly," he added. Mr Lee Yong Wen, owner of Mr Meepok in Clementi, is reviewing prices at his hawker stall after a spike in his electricity bill last month. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO In January, Singapore's core inflation rose to 2.4 per cent year on year, the highest since September 2012. Food prices have been rising due to the Covid-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions and increasing energy prices. The situation is now exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine crisis, which has pushed up prices in commodity markets. Russia and Ukraine are vital suppliers of grains, vegetable oil and fertilisers, which means that supply disruptions will be felt all over the world. Food prices worldwide hit a record high in February, jumping 20.7 per cent from a year earlier, led by a surge in the costs of vegetable oils and dairy products. The impact of rising food costs and the Russia-Ukraine crisis have slowly trickled down to hawkers. Ten of the hawkers told ST they had raised their prices recently. A drink stall operator who wants to be known as Mr Lim increased hot drink prices by 10 cents in March. He said his suppliers began raising prices in December last year. Mr Lim, 52, who owns Tou Shou Di drink stall at Chinatown Complex Food Centre, said: "I can absorb the initial price increase, but the prices keep rising, and I can't afford to do that anymore. Even after my price increase, I am still losing about 10 cents for each cup of coffee or tea that I sell. If the war in Ukraine and Russia continues, the prices will keep increasing." Mr Lim, who operates the Tou Shou Di drink stall at Chinatown Complex Food Centre, has increased his hot drinks prices by 10 cents from March this year. ST PHOTO: SAMUEL ANG Mr Anthony Low, 53, chairman of the Federation of Merchants' Association Hawker Division, said the cost of ingredients and electricity bills have affected hawkers greatly. "When we add all these up, it becomes a heavy burden for hawkers to maintain their current food prices. We are selling at affordable prices for the public. But with inflation, it is hard for us to bear the costs. So we have to increase our food prices, or else we can't cope." Mr Thya Boon Hin, 56, chairman of the Marine Parade Merchants' Association, which oversees 84 Marine Parade Central Market and Food Centre and 50A Marine Terrace Market and Food Centre, said some hawkers have been adjusting their prices since January. Together, the two markets have a total of 79 hawker stalls. "Some hawkers increased their prices by 30 cents to 50 cents as the costs of their ingredients, oil and electricity have increased in recent months," he added. Despite the rising costs, some hawkers - such as Mr Zhang Ah Seng, 54, who runs Ah Seng Bak Chor Mee in Albert Food Centre - did not increase their prices. Mr Zhang is one of 11 hawkers ST spoke to who did not raise prices. "If a small business were to increase prices by a small 50 cents, there will be backlash from our regulars and directly affect our business negatively. We choose to not increase food prices mainly because of lower-wage customers, who are already scrimping to survive every day," said Mr Zhang. Others, such as Mr David Lim, 30, owner of Ah Tas Muffins at Old Airport Road Food Centre, said they will try to maintain prices. However, Mr Lim said profits will fall as prices of ingredients such as butter, chocolate and milk are constantly on the rise. "With the (pending) goods and services tax hike, we have to pay our landlord and food suppliers more. The salary for employees will also have to be increased due to the rising cost of living," he added. Mr Hong Poh Hin, vice-chairman of the Foochow Coffee Restaurant and Bar Merchants Association, which represents more than 400 coffee shops, said: "If the food suppliers increase their prices and the coffee shop operators and stall holders cannot absorb the costs, they will pass the cost to the consumers sooner or later." Most consumers said they understood the hawkers' needs to increase their prices. Engineer Alfred Tan, 48, said, "Everyone has to make a living. Everything is more expensive now, so you can't expect (hawkers) to maintain their prices."

should have come here. we need cheap worker. low skill nvm, as long as cheap but once you become skillfull. poof of you go Europe

same clueless better avoid

buy for who

There NewPipe left. here youvanced link https://vancedapp.com/

Google finally succeeds in killing YouTube Vanced Integration Developer: you don't have to know the exact reason this had to happen, you can probably figure it out yourself, considering we had to do it. Vanced has been discontinued. In the coming days, the download links will be taken down. The Discord server will stay for the time being. We know this is not something you wanted to hear, but it's something we need to do. We want to thank you all for the support over the years.

soon or later, they follow Venezuela will tell you this The Maduro Diet

married or not. best is run away the woman charter can attack

SINGAPORE: You may have noticed recently that your grocery bills have gone up. Singapore's core inflation rate, which measures the average change in prices for things like food, electricity and gas, rose 2.4 per cent year-on-year in January – the highest increase in more than nine years. For food alone, the inflation rate that month was 2.6 per cent. But inflation figures only tell part of the story – how much exactly have the prices of your everyday groceries gone up? To find out, CNA compared the current prices of some essential goods from several supermarkets with that of a year ago. Avid bakers and egg lovers might have felt the pinch more than most – for fresh produce, eggs saw the biggest price increase. Checks by CNA showed that the price of a pack of 30 Pasar fresh eggs was S$6.15 at NTUC FairPrice in February, up from S$4.75 in the same month in 2021. Fresh eggs from Sheng Siong saw a similar increase from S$4.65 for 30 eggs in February 2021 to S$6.15 in the same month this year. Supermarkets confirmed that the egg prices have risen across the board due to production, labour costs and freight, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. DFI retail group, which manages the Cold Storage and Giant supermarkets, said egg prices have risen by around a fifth to a quarter since last year. FairPrice, Singapore's largest supermarket chain, also said that prices have increased by about 10 per cent compared to 2021, depending on the size of the pack, weight and country of origin of the eggs. Prices of fresh vegetables have also increased, although less drastically. Comparing February 2021 with February 2022 prices, the price of baby cai xin (200g) and carrots (900g) from China rose by 10 cents and 5 cents respectively. Watercress (200g), round spinach (250g) and tomatoes (500-600g) from Malaysia rose by between 10 and 35 cents. Spring onions (100g) from Thailand now cost 10 cents more, and the price of local soya bean sprouts (200g) 15 cents more. But prices of some other essentials remain unchanged – CNA's comparisons of products such as frozen chicken and pork, some brands of fresh milk and white bread showed that prices have not increased from a year ago. “Eggs, being a food commodity, are subject to price fluctuations due to market factors such as demand and supply, weather and socio-economic conditions,” said a FairPrice spokesperson. “Additionally, higher feed prices and logistic costs, as well as manpower shortages, also affect prices in the current volatile environment.” DFI said that aside from eggs, the cost price of some produce items has also increased due to recent unfavourable weather and port congestions. Its spokesperson said the company is working with suppliers to provide Cold Storage and Giant customers with "as much variety and supply of produce as possible”. Here's how the prices of fresh produce and other essential items have changed in the past year. (Graphic: Rafa Estrada) WHY ARE FOOD PRICES RISING? Global food prices are affected by factors such as pandemic-induced labour shortages, higher energy and freight costs and weather-related disruptions, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said in response to CNA queries. “As a small and open economy that imports most of its food supplies, Singapore will have to manage global inflationary pressures,” the ministry said. Has Russia's invasion of Ukraine also pushed up food prices? The two countries produce nearly a quarter of the world’s wheat, and are also major exporters of barley, corn and sunflower seed oil, Associate Professor Chen Tao from Nanyang Technological University told CNA earlier. Ukraine is also one of the largest exporters of food grain – the main ingredient in chicken feed, making it more expensive to rear chickens and in turn pushing egg prices up. Since February, a pack of 30 eggs has increased by around 60 cents to S$7.20 as of March at NTUC FairPrice and Sheng Siong supermarkets. To keep prices competitive, Singapore imports food supplies from more than 170 countries and regions around the world, MTI said in its response. “The Government adopts a multi-pronged strategy involving import diversification, local production and stockpiling to mitigate the impact of unforeseen disruptions to our food supply, reduce our vulnerability to price fluctuations and ensure that prices remain competitive.” Source: CNA/hw

SINGAPORE: Have you ever noticed you are getting slightly less Coca-Cola for the same price? Or that your chocolate bar has shrunk, even though its price has not? As raw material and fuel costs rise, consumers have been forking out more for items such as eggs, petrol and coffee. But some companies have turned to a subtler — some say sneakier — method: Selling a smaller amount of product for the same price. Shrinkflation is an international phenomenon that has gone on for decades. And it is unlikely to go away anytime soon, the programme Talking Point found out. Shrinkflation, or downsizing, “tends to be cyclical”, said consumer lawyer Edgar Dworsky, the United States-based founder of Consumer World, a non-commercial consumer resource guide. “In times of inflation, like (what) we’re going through now, you see more of it because manufacturers are under pressure, because of rising costs of production, for example.” According to Dworsky, companies usually give three reasons for shrinking their products. They say the price of raw materials has gone up, transport costs have risen or they are matching a competitor that raised prices. He cited how Breyers, a popular ice cream brand in the United States, shrank its product in the course of 20 years. From 64 ounces (1.89 litres), the container was downsized to 56 ounces, then 48 ounces. “You’ve lost two cups (of ice cream),” he said. Almost all kinds of products, from potato crisps to toilet paper, can be downsized, noted Dworsky. But companies never announce this, opting instead to highlight positives such as occasions when they offer a bonus amount of a product. “That’s why it becomes sneaky,” he added. Consumer lawyer Edgar Dworsky has been following the downsizing phenomenon in the United States for 27 years. Other countries where shrinkflation has been reported include the United Kingdom and Japan. While Singapore lacks the data to track shrinkflation over the years, Talking Point got hold of some items with subtle size differences. One brand of potato crisps, for example, shrank the quantity of crisps in its canister by 11 grammes, to 147 g. A family-sized Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate block that weighed 250 g in 2009 now weighs 180 g — a 28 per cent reduction. A standard Cadbury Dairy Milk bar that was 49 g now weighs 45 g — a difference of 8 per cent. Companies can downsize a bar of chocolate by rounding its edges. And a 330-millilitre can of Coca-Cola has shrunk by 3 per cent to 320 ml since 2017. Asked about this, Coca-Cola said it was to ensure that it continues to “provide affordable price points for Singaporean consumers”. Increases in commodity costs have meant there is the “occasional need” to increase the price of its products, it said. Talking Point host Steven Chia investigates consumer products that have undergone shrinkflation. Mondelez International, the owner of the Cadbury brand, said its product portfolio is “created based on consumer preferences and needs”. These can vary by country depending on the snacking occasion, taste profile or the channel purchased in, said a spokesperson. “We develop our price pack architecture approach based on our understanding of our consumer needs and costs of manufacturing and supply chain.” CLEVER PACKAGING Marketing professor Klaus Wertenbroch at business school Insead said companies try to conceal shrunken product sizes through psychophysics. Companies could alter various dimensions such as the length, width and height of their product packaging so that it blunts consumers’ perception of changes in actual size. “The more changes in multiple aspects, the harder to track,” he said. It can be difficult to tell if a wider, shorter can or a taller, more slender can contains more potato crisps. This is also how two different brands of the same food item can appear to be the same size but contain different quantities. Wertenbroch demonstrated this with two peanut butter bottles that had very similar dimensions — except for a bigger dimple at the base of one container. The labels, upon closer inspection, showed a difference of nearly 50 g between the two brands. Some companies downsize in simpler ways, he noted. A spices and seasonings company, for instance, left more empty space in its bottle of parsley. Often, companies change packaging to refresh their brand. But banking on the fact that consumers do not always check carefully, the companies may also shrink their product to lower their costs and increase margins, he said. WATCH: Are your favourite food products shrinking? We find out why (22:21) https://youtu.be/1hsUH3p3xQc According to a straw poll of about 80 people, however, Talking Point found that about 60 per cent preferred to pay more and get the same quantity of a product as before. Either way, managing the cost of living has become more important, with Singapore’s headline inflation at 4 per cent in January compared to the previous year and core inflation (which excludes accommodation and private transport components) hitting 2.4 per cent. So here are some tips for saving money on groceries, from lifestyle content writer Kendra Tan: 1. Prepare a shopping list and use the Consumers Association of Singapore’s Price Kaki app to check prices and find out where to get the cheapest products. 2. A bigger pack is not always cheaper. Calculate the unit cost of a product to know if a smaller or larger pack is better value for money. 3. Consider house brands. They tend to be cheaper because supermarket chains can cut out the middleman and save advertising costs. Lifestyle content writer Kendra Tan buying some house brands. 4. Check out budget shops. These stores generally offer discounted prices on items like soft drinks, enabled by factors such as buying overstocked items from suppliers. 5. Buy vouchers from trustworthy shopping apps when there are promotions. For instance, Tan paid one cent for a S$1.50 voucher from e-commerce firm Shopee when it had a tie-up with grocery chain Tian Ma Group. For a grocery run that would have cost about S$60, Tan followed these tips and paid about S$50 instead. Watch this episode of Talking Point here. The programme airs on Channel 5 every Thursday at 9.30pm. Source: CNA/dp

Ashley Lake)" data-caption="Vanniall photographed at home in her New York City apartment. (Photo: Ashley Lake)" data-rich-caption="Vanniall photographed at home in her New York City apartment. (Photo: Ashley Lake)" data-credit="Ashley Lake" data-credit-link-back="https://www.takingsomepictures.com/" /> “When did you come out?” A simple question asked of every queer person, but it’s never been enough to come out just once. You have to come out to every person you meet, in many ways. I’ve come out as gay, as trans, as a sex worker. I found an accepting home in the sex worker community and the porn industry, working for myself without an agent or manager or boss in a way I never imagined possible, supporting myself and even winning industry awards like Best Trans Clip Artist in 2020. Telling people exactly who I am was the only way I knew that I could live happily. Each time I came out, I had to find my community and support. I thought that would be it ― I’ve told everyone my big secrets, I’ve let people see me. But halfway through 2021, I was diagnosed with HIV — and suddenly, I was back in the closet, feeling like a shadowy figure. It felt familiar, almost nostalgic. But no one should feel that way. Things need to change. Today, I’m coming out, the closet locked firmly behind me, as HIV-positive. The diagnosis was scary. It was terrifying. For a moment, I had this idea, which I know is now archaic, flashing before my eyes: Am I going to die? I know now that my chances of losing my life to HIV are zero to none, as long as I have access to modern medicine. A simple two pills a day not only stop the virus from replicating and causing any symptoms but also make it untransmissible. I’ve experienced no side effects and have had to make no life adjustments for the medication. I had no idea it would be so simple, or that I had already taken one of the pills, Truvada, for PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). My clinic, the Center for Special Studies in New York City, connected me with a doctor (a trans one!) and a caseworker who got me insurance and covered the meds — I’ve paid nothing. I take two pills every night, but there are even one-pill-a-day regimens. Science will soon make once-a-month or every-two-month injections widely available, or even provide a cure. There were recent headlines about a second person “naturally” cured of HIV, raising hopes even higher. But my relief upon finding out about the medication didn’t last very long. Even though I had dodged a literal death sentence, my career and means of survival were less assured. I’d made a living out of my sexuality, and an HIV diagnosis seemed decidedly unsexy. Vanniall with GMO, one of her three black cats. (Photo: Ashley Lake)" data-caption="Vanniall with GMO, one of her three black cats. (Photo: Ashley Lake)" data-rich-caption="Vanniall with GMO, one of her three black cats. (Photo: Ashley Lake)" data-credit="Ashley Lake" data-credit-link-back="https://www.takingsomepictures.com/" /> I’m not alone in relying on the adult industry. Black transgender people are highly stigmatized and pushed out of most jobs. Research released by the National LGBTQ Task Force found that 26% of us reported being unemployed, 34% lived in “extreme poverty,” and 41% had experienced homelessness. A 2015 study reported that as high as 40-47% of us have traded sex to survive. Lack of safety, accessible education and health care hits Black Americans the hardest, with us making up 42% of all new U.S. HIV diagnoses in 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than one-fifth of Black transgender people are living with HIV (20.23%) compared to 2.64% of all trans people, 2.4% of all Black people and 0.6% of the general U.S. population. Sex work is highly stigmatized by banks (which deny us normal financial services like PayPal, forcing us to turn around and get exploitatively high rates through intermediaries). With 1 in 4 U.S. households unbanked or underbanked already, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., this intersection becomes incredibly important. Maintaining access to the income we have is essential to POC sex workers’ survival. Sex workers and LGBTQ businesses have long protested discrimination from outside the sex industry, like the #AcceptanceMatters campaign’s protest against new Mastercard policies. HIV+ sex workers experience this discrimination within their own industry as well. The adult entertainment industry was one of the few places where it felt possible for people like me to survive or actually have a career. I found fans who adored me and respect from my co-workers. I was directing my own feature-length films, controlling my own distribution, and had just started breaking into a mainstream career with major bookings for other studios. I had carved out a niche for myself, proudly, as a Black trans woman, sexy in my own body. But with my HIV diagnosis, that felt like it was going to come crashing down. All of a sudden, I was dodging texts from talent about shoots and giving generic excuses to major studios I had spent years courting and setting up business with. I seemed like a flake because I didn’t know what to say — how do you tell someone that months of pre-production are out the window because you’re HIV-positive? I had so much going on in my head pre-diagnosis. Sets and locations I was itching to play with. Producers and directors I’d been dying to meet. I’d spent months building connections, making sure I had my latest ID and had gotten a passport so I could book international work. All of that had to be stopped, and I wasn’t sure if those opportunities would come back. It felt terrible seeing everything I had been building toward slide out of my reach. It left me wondering where my place was in the adult industry, or if I even had a place at all. Vanniall talking with fans in her home streaming studio. (Photo: Ashley Lake)" data-caption="Vanniall talking with fans in her home streaming studio. (Photo: Ashley Lake)" data-rich-caption="Vanniall talking with fans in her home streaming studio. (Photo: Ashley Lake)" data-credit="Ashley Lake" data-credit-link-back="https://www.takingsomepictures.com/" /> The adult industry has some working systems around HIV and some broken ones. The most widely known and basic policy is to test for STIs before shoots. For busy mainstream performers, this can mean getting tested at official Talent Testing clinics every 14 days. For “trade” shoots, ever more common in an increasingly independent industry, two performers share production costs and distribution rights. For these productions, most performers simply get tested wherever we can afford and show each other the results on our phones. The existing testing regimen has shown its use outside of HIV ― allowing the industry to quickly adapt to COVID-19, for instance. Regular testing is important. Getting tested regularly for shoots allowed me to catch the HIV infection almost instantly. I got HIV from an undiagnosed non-sex worker but was able to make sure I didn’t expose another sex worker, a client, or my partner because I knew my status. You often see news about HIV shutting down porn production, which leads to some people saying the industry is unsafe, but that’s actually evidence that the testing system works. Shutting down sets for days at a time to wait for updated tests shows an industry willing to coordinate like no other for the safety of its workers. As porn performer Charlotte Sartre was quoted in Paper magazine, “In the past 15 years in the U.S., there have been no on-set HIV transmissions, everything’s happened off-camera in a performer’s personal life.” Testing among non-sex workers is dismally low compared to sex workers, but no one uses shock headlines to report on individual cases in other industries. How many people outside the sex industry do you know who get tested for STIs every two weeks? U.S. government statistics show that less than half of all U.S. adults ages 18-64 have ever been tested for HIV. Most sexually active adults never get tested at all, let alone 20 or 30 times a year like us. The adult industry’s openness about HIV has been used to stigmatize us, but it’s something we should take pride in. Unfortunately, prevention and detection aren’t the only metrics, and the adult industry fails on the most important one: supporting people who actually have HIV and must live with it. Everyone is scared of contracting HIV, but the true stakeholders are HIV+ performers. If you don’t have it, you’re not living with it ― you should be protected but not centered in policy. Currently, Talent Testing is set up to show whether someone is HIV-positive, not whether their HIV is transmissible. This unfairly groups people who have the virus under control through medication with people who have just had it detected but have not yet been medicated. When the latest science was mentioned during the Adult Entertainment Expo in 2019, inaccurate stigma from industry leaders at organizations like the Adult Performers Actors Guild led them not to revise testing to identify all safe performers, but instead to add another expensive, more specific test to make sure non-transmissible performers were still detected as positive and kept out of production. In the years since, despite much talk, there has been no concrete progress toward revising this — leaving HIV+ workers unable to do the work they need to pay their bills. Stigma against HIV+ people and LGBTQ folk scares others away from regular testing and medication. The same fear forces HIV+ sex workers away from a safe performing income. Even aside from safety protocol, sex workers can be just as scared and misinformed as the general public ― there’s no getting around the fact that stigma means some people won’t work with me and some clients might shy away from my content. Uneducated fear about HIV is so strong that many studios won’t book male talent for “straight” scenes if they have done any gay or trans scenes, a de facto ban on so-called “crossover” performers regardless of testing status. It’s a myth that bisexual men “spread HIV.” Trans performers are especially stigmatized. But HIV is just as big an issue in other populations ― 48% of the estimated 1.7 million new HIV infections globally in 2019 were among women and girls, and the low perception of risk among heterosexual men means they now have the highest rate of undiagnosed infections. Heterosexual people generally get HIV from heterosexual partners, not bisexual ones. These figures make it clear: Stigma against HIV+ people and LGBTQ folk scares others away from regular testing and medication. The same fear forces HIV+ sex workers away from a safe performing income. Stigma helps no one. We can fight this stigma with education. Modern drugs, called antiretroviral therapy or ART, completely stop HIV from replicating. That means a person’s viral load can be reduced to “undetectable” levels, staving off all of the late-term health risks we call AIDS, letting people diagnosed with HIV live healthy, normal lives, and preventing any risk of transmission of the virus. After as little as one week, if HIV is caught quickly on the new drugs, you can be tested and declared “undetectable.” Almost all patients are undetectable within six months. This is also when they are untransmissible. That’s what the U=U campaign educates about ― Undetectable Means Untransmissble. It may be hard for some people to understand, but someone who knows they are HIV+ and is on medication can be safer to have sex with than someone who just thinks they are negative. If a previously HIV-negative person is exposed to the virus, they may have it and transmit it before it’s caught. They could have levels of the virus that would have been detectable if they’d tested. Performers with an untransmissible HIV viral load (referred to as U+) can never transmit HIV; there is no gray area of risk. U=U isn’t just about helping U+ performers ― it’s also the most reliable HIV prevention mechanism for anyone who is sexually active, making it a huge benefit to HIV-negative people. Studies have shown that even missing periodic doses doesn’t stop the drugs from being effective ― so-called “viral blips” may show how sensitive testing is, but don’t indicate transmissibility. It’s best to always take your meds on schedule, but worth being reassured that these edge cases have been studied in depth. It could take several weeks for levels to become detectable after going off medication. The science is in ― it’s safe to have sex and produce content with HIV+ performers on ART. For the U.S. porn industry, we already know how to improve our system. Organizations and trade groups simply must center the needs of HIV+ performers in their HIV policy, and not the people scared of them. A production database could make sure non-transmissible workers are flagged as safe just as tested HIV-negative workers. There is nothing “unsafe” about those living with HIV, and that should be articulated. At the very least, people could opt in to a more inclusive database and let their agents know they will book with trans, crossover and U+ performers. Agencies should advertise inclusion and allow out U+ performers to be knowingly contacted instead of blacklisted through whisper campaigns. There is a new international effort, Porn Professionals for Safety Against Discrimination, that asks industry members and companies to pledge to fight stigma and support U+ workers. The Domino Foundation is working to raise funds in the U.K. for HIV PCR/RNA tests for performers and to standardize the PCR tests that determine risk instead of status. We should support similar efforts in the U.S. Ashley Lake)" data-caption=""After months of this journey, I’m now at peace with my diagnosis," writes Vanniall, photographed in front of her video editing workstation. (Photo: Ashley Lake)" data-rich-caption=""After months of this journey, I’m now at peace with my diagnosis," writes Vanniall, photographed in front of her video editing workstation. (Photo: Ashley Lake)" data-credit="Ashley Lake" data-credit-link-back="https://www.takingsomepictures.com/" /> Very importantly, we must reduce barriers to safety. Work needs to be done to allow free clinics into adult testing databases, since current testing costs too much and most indie content is created outside the for-profit Talent Testing system. Only mainstream workers and big studios understand how to access these tests, and even then, the required panel often costs around $200, when scenes can pay as low as $300 or $400 for entry-level or trans and gay talent. Clinics should also educate anyone getting tested on PrEP, not just LGBTQ folk and sex workers. There is some hope as PASS (Performer Availability Screening Service) is now a separate nonprofit, but those of us who are HIV+ in the industry have already been waiting years with clear science but little support and a lot of talk. The time is now. We can all do more to educate people inside and outside the industry about PrEP, protection, and ending stigma. We need to stop associating HIV solely with highly stigmatized groups, which adds further stigma to everyone. The misleading association leads to fewer straight, cis people getting the testing they need. We need to stop using words like “clean” to refer to those without HIV and to stop focusing only on prevention, as if HIV+ people are already dead and mourned. We are right here in front of you. To functionally reduce stigma, we also need in-person sex work decriminalized and sex workers added to the list of protected classes, so they can organize for safety and build stability instead of letting outside forces regulate our work to our detriment with terrible laws like SESTA. After months of this journey, I’m now at peace with my diagnosis. I feel extremely grateful that I can be confident that my immediate community and fans will continue to be there. I feel lucky that I built a platform and name for myself before this, and grateful to platforms like OnlyFans that allow me to work independently, so now I can look to educate others and continue my career. Camming and feed sites allow me to talk directly with fans instead of fighting stigma from employers or production studios. Despite the comfort of working for myself, however, I’ve decided I will not let this hold me back. I’m going to pursue my mainstream porn star dreams and aim at becoming that household name I wanted to be. I’m hot, I’m here, I’m HIV+.

the different is. one is legal another is illgeal

Got you, you all focus on the bike right?

https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=918852368830960