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Last night I saw an episode of House that featured a patient who had genital herpes. The title was "House vs. God". The character was teenage religious "healer" hiding his herpes from his father. He was portrayed as a pure, straight-laced young man which I found to be a refreshing and powerful image for someone with an STD.
The film is called "The Last Days of Disco". The main character contracts herpes. Dane Cook also discusses herpes through his most recent comedy routine "Rough Around the Edges". Dane Cook went about discussing it in a very human and normal way. It was so refreshing to hear somebody talk about it in a way that doesn't proliferate the stigma. I applaud Dane for his comical ability to make light of the issue. Thank you!
I just watched the movie "Intimate Agony" from 1983. Stars Judith Light, who you'll remember from "Who's The Boss?" if you grew up in the 80's. This movie actually came out a long time ago, (ironically the year I was born). It's frustrating because even though it was made almost three decades ago, not much has changed publicly/socially in terms of awareness, understanding, or the way it makes the inflicted feel. And even more frustrating, to the point of being heartbreaking, is that the treatment is not much better now than it was then, 27 years ago. Acyclovir is still the main Rx treatment. Doesn't give me much hope for a cure in my lifetime.
Hi,
I am a French Canadian, so forgive my errors. I read your article with great interest. I just saw a film from Quebec -- Lucidité passagère --, which is not translated, infortunately. One of the characters, a woman in thirty something, has herpes, and it is not a comedy nor too dramatic. She met a guy with multiple sclerosis, and despite the fact that she loves him, she refuses to go farther than friendship with him because she was often rejected by men in the past when she mentioned having herpes. Finally, she got to tell him since she doesn't want to lose him. He tells her that he really don't care about these little "boutons" (don't know the term in english) since himself doesn't even know if he will be blind the next day or be able to getting up in the morning.
Having to live with herpes since 17 years, I cried when I saw that film. I said to myself: finally, someone is talking about herpes in a film, and with intelligence.
Once again, congratulations for your remarks.
Denise
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Hi, thank you very much for posting this sharepost. I very much agree that herpes should be represented more in the media. Believe it or not, even though the media's job isn't to educate us, that is where lots of people get their information and they do believe what they hear (evidently not everyone...but lots do). So, when the only time they hear about herpes is by some bad joke no wonder people stigmatize the disease. Bad information creates unnecessary fear (such as: only prostitutes get herpes). It is so publicized that "only dirty people have herpes" that people who wind up contracting the disease buy into the stigma which potentially leads to depression and isolation. I can't speak for others, but I definitely did. I felt dirty for weeks until I talked to my doctor about it and she brought me back to earth - giving the real facts that the disease is really common and it is a cold sore in the genital area. Ignorance is not bliss since that is how many of us found out about having the disease when a partner didn't tell us they had it. Ignorance is not bliss when the public knows very little about the disease other than the fact that it is a common joke theme throughout television.
This might be more of a rant than it is answering your questions and for that Im sorry but I do thank you for continuously reminding us that we are not freaks, that this is common and the public/media needs to wake up and learn something about its prevalence.