Message from the editor
open & honest
A couple of years ago, a group of us met to brainstorm. By then, thirty years had passed since Aids claimed its first victim. Yet despite massive medical advances, people’s ideas about HIV were still dominated by images from the dark, early days of the crisis. The public’s lack of understanding is kept in place by a lack of visibility. Many people with HIV keep their condition a secret, fearing hostile reactions from those around them. It’s understandable that we get angry at being stigmatised, but we can’t do much to change attitudes as long as we remain unseen. If we want to rid the world of stigma, it’s up to us to take the first step. That’s why my friends and I decided to create a glossy magazine about HIV, which would be produced by volunteers and distributed mainly free of charge through HIV treatment centres. The magazine would tell the stories of various people with HIV and be filled with editorials, columns, lifestyle items and the latest information about living with HIV. It would be beautifully designed, bold, optimistic, proud and sexy; even its name would be empowering. ‘Because we’re worth it.’ It would be not just for people who live with HIV, but also for those who know anyone with the condition, who are professionally involved with HIV or who simply want to find out more about it. Now, five issues later, the responses have been overwhelmingly positive. Take the case of Reina for example, a 50-year-old woman who had been living with HIV for 25 years; spurred on by our magazine, she ‘came out’ to her daughter. Or Pjotr, a 21-year-old man, newly diagnosed and depressed by all that he’d read about living with HIV – until he picked up a copy of hello gorgeous. We are delighted to present you with our first English edition, a digital compilation of translated articles selected from the first four issues of the printed Dutch magazine. These include the stories of Lucy, Helen, Raoul and Rick, travel advice for people with HIV, a comfort-food recipe and our very own comic heroine, Joke van Soest. Enjoy! Leo Schenk leo@hellogorgeous.nl
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