Watch This : HIV+ Man Asks Strangers To Touch Him
Finnish guy Janne Antin wanted to show what it is like to live with HIV, the stigma related to it and at the same time raise awareness on the condition. It is an extremely moving video. I actually saw it when it first came out few month ago and it made me cry. This morning when I woke up, I had a flash about it and went online to find it to share it with you.
I am telling you this is extremely disturbing how some people react. I won’t tell you what their reactions are, I will simply let you watch the video. Make sure you have a box of tissue not too far….
Dave
Surprisingly, it went very well. . .
I had braced myself for some really hateful stuff lol. I’m a mess of tears right now. That was awesome.
That was fascinating and not quite what I was expecting , before I opened the video .
I think it makes a wonderful statement about the society in which he lives but I wonder what different results he would get if he traveled the globe doing the same thing .
I was so glad to see so many people actually hugging him instead of just touching him.
I would have done the same thing.
Great reactions…didn’t see much “Stigma” as mentioned
We all aware of stigma of living with HIV, but we shouldn’t make a big deal out of the fact that some people just looked but didn’t touch him. I’d never touch anybody on the street, whatever their sign said.
I cried when he cried, but I expected nothing less than what I saw from the Finnish!
It brung tears to my eyes before he cried I didn’t see one black hug him
I loved every minute
C’Mon let’s face it. If he had posted that he was HIV negative, people still wouldn’t have touched him and/or looked at him weird. Nobody frowns at this disease anymore. #Sofarpastthatstigma
This is the most powerful clip I have ever seen to date …I am applauding this man to have the courage to do this ..wow ..On the other hand I believe what made this equally sad for me is that I believe each person that hugged this man lost someone very dear to them from this disease. So to them each hug was a compassionate one .. I pray every day that God himself will inspire scientist to find a cure for this..
Before even clicking on the video I was thinking that I personally wouldn’t be comfortable touching ANY stranger regardless of their HIV status, and was prepared for the worst.
I would be the first one to hug him. Cuz Some people are so ignorant. When their don’t know this disease. Their think you nasty and dirty person. I hope we will find cure for every diseases one day. Like the movies “Elysium”
touching….back in early 80’s i rented to an HIV+ man….other roommate left very hastily….rented to another HIV+….i had no issues renting to HIV+ guys….friends at the time thought i was nuts.
Thus do brave of him, the hardest part is still at this age in times stigma is still around….it’s painful to say and I still wants to understand more what is it that people got this stigma thing either them….I mean there is education about the virus and…… I wish I could do more in fighting stigma
It’s not the judgmental USA God bless very touching!!!
This is the way the world looks at Hiv+ some are with open minds, open arms, others don’t want to know it, see it, or deal with it,much less want to touch it. what scares me more is when you put yourself out there, those crazy Haters target you. If only we could live in a world where we all can love each other.
Luv my own cum…taste great…but for some reason i have to cum in my mouth to eat it….i chicken out if its on my palm or on the counter.
As someone who lived through the first wave of HIV when it hit my island, I was very encouraged by this video.
you know what is the saddest part
every person that touched him was white that tells me that as minority we have a long way to go
Wow this was awesome
Totally amazing. Brought tears to my eyes.
I think, had there been a large number of negative responses that didn’t make the final cut of the video, they probably stemmed from the weirdness of a stranger asking to be touched in public. Beyond that, its nice to see that the majority of the responses were positive.
You’re still a human being, and you are loved . . .
Based on what was shown (many people touching him), all’s good! Mass fears of HIV- are over.
It scores high as a tear jerker full of love! Who could ask for more?
But in the end, what IS its message? Just more “performance art”? Or does it reveal anything real about social change?
Wow. You were right…crying right now. That was so touching. It so could have gone another (bad) way. Gives you hope in humanity. Totally awesome.
Europe’s far advanced beyond the US in almost all aspects except corruption. That said, I’ll touch him all he wants, in all sorts of places…but he’s NOT getting up my ass BB!
In a world full of haters…..its nice to witness that some are still open minded enough to exhale compassion…
This speaks so much volumes. I was touched!
This made me tear up with in the first 30 seconds! It reminds me of the bible story of the man with leprosy and how Jesus was not afraid of touching him. Thank tou for sharing.
Great topic, and it was pretty moving. Wish more of blogs on here had meaning vs crap I see ” do you eat your own cum” really? Kudos to the guy in the clip
Sad truth. When you’re different, people will hurt you.
went through a similar experience before don’t ask don’t tell was repealed in the Army.
Regardless of hiv status a guy on the corner with a sign saying touch me is going to get strange looks
Very powerful and moving. Thanks for sharing!!
It is surprising how many people can find on their heart the true feeling.
I have some very close friends that have lived with this for many years and I will always treat them and any one that is dealing with this with deep love and hugs .
And above all they have my most respect as it is a very misunderstood illness.
My heart goes out to all who are struck with this illness
I am missing the point. If it was some stranger sitting there asking to be touched without the HIV sign how different would it be? Not looking to start controversy I’m just curious on what am I missing?
Greg, the guy wanted to see if people would show him some love, and yes, they did, so it made him cry of happiness.
This was awesome. I also expected some negative actions. But my eyes filled with tears quick. There are some people out there that is well educated about the disease.
I was actually brought to tears because I grew up with a uncle who had AIDS not HIV. I loved him so much he was and still my best friend my family didn’t really know but I wasn’t never to drink out of the same cup is him. Or come in contact with him if he was bleeding. I blamed it on uneducated reasons as I grew up and became more educated about HIV and AIDS I understood what he went threw but then it was too late he died from a stroke with a weak immune system from AIds I couldn’t do more with him this video brought those memories back of him thank you
I don’t really see the big deal, thus really didn’t move me in any way. It’s 2015 i think 98% of people know you can’t get h.I.v bytouching someone . I will not sleep with someone I know to be h.I.v positive though, I just can’t bring myself to that. This illness could if been gone long ago if people used proper precautions engaging in sex and didn’t share needles. I just don’t understand whypeople engage in such risky behavior, it’s ludicrous. My uncle had this illness. Just wish cx “c’xcŕ
I’m poz 28+ years and to be honest, if a stranger (outside of strippers in a strip-club) asked me to touch him, my WASP instincts would kick-in and I probably would not… some of it is stranger-danger, not hiv-phobia. but I am sure some is.
I don’t have an issue that he is poz. I don’t touch random strangers. The intro narrative made it sound like it was horrible. I’m actually surprised how many people walk up to a total stranger and was hugging him.
the one earlier talked about black people not touching him. I don’t think that is an issue. I saw no black people in the crowd
Yeah, I don’t touch strangers at all. In fact this is disturbing because if anyone of these people had an infectious disease that could be passed by direct skin to skin or skin to clothes contact, it would spread like wildfire.
The film touched me. When I was working with persons with AIDS I got a lot of comments from people saying I should work with cancer people instead. That was fear from ignorance.
For Harry Taliafero Jr: Please don’t make this a race issue, it’s a human issue. I didn’t notice black folk in the film walking away from him.
Sorry, but if some stranger asked me to touch him, HIV or not, I don’t think I would do it. I have no idea where he’s been or if he’s just some pervert who gets his jollies from getting touched by strangers.
I don’t see the big deal… ddnt come out emotional for me. I think it’s weird to have a man with eyes closed and arms open in the middle of the street with a sign to touch him… I wouldn’t touch him.
At least he should hv opened his eyes and engage people; many more would have responded in that case. Those who decided NOT to touch him are NOT hateful. I personally would NOT touch him. Its just not a good parallel to draw… my take.
many of you dont understand I guess. It is not about being touched. It”s about getting support by getting touched, it’s symbolic. They are hugging him or touching him in a way to say : it’s ok dude, we “love you….
They are probably not hugging strangers every day of their lives too, like I wouldn’t to any random dude in the street. But in this case, to offer my support, I would!
Clearer now?
Dave
I wasn’t surprised by how this turned out. We as humans can be equally caring, and hateful in some cases at the same time. We can love someone, but hate others. This experiment tells us that we are capeable of showing compassion. The sad part is that while showing compassion, we also spew out massive amounts of hatred. A real test would be if a person of the worst kind puts up a sign, then outstretched his/her arms, would you touch or hold them? Would you still show compassion, or hatred?
Very nice! But as to the person who stated that he did not see any blacks touch him. Being black myself I would definitely touch him, and why make this about race? If you also noticed at first glance I did not see any black people there in the first place.
The outcome is very moving and the outpouring of support is amazing. I wonder what sort of reaction he would receive here in the US.
I thought the video was moving and awesome. What surprises me are the hypocrites who post they would not touch a stranger on the street but are online looking for a hook-up. They are willing to stick their tongue in a strangers ass and suck their dick because they had a profile on the internet!?! WTF? He had signs in 2 languages and was being filmed. Anyone with a clue should deduce it’s a social comment/experiment.
I cannot find the words to say how this vid makes me feel. The stigma is real, the ignorance is real! The DISEASE/VIRUS is real. I expected the looks, the avoidance, I expected sum to just touch his shirt, or maybe even his hand. But what I really was hoping and praying, and waiting on was someone to Hug and hop him! When it finally happened I was truly overcome with emotions and still am bawling my tears out as I write this! This video had made a huge impact on my views, goals, life and vision! MORE HUGE LESS HATE! (MY TEARS ARE FOR THE GOOD AND BAD IN PPL, BUT MY CRIES AND SMILES ARE FOR THE TRUE HUMANS)
Had to stop and start vid a couple times. Brought tears to my eyes. Loved it. Opened up my heart and had to ask myself, What would I do?