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Want to take a stand with us? The Shameless Herpes Movement!


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This is an amazing idea! I LOVE it! I want to be involved! Major publicity, planning, events, everything should be involved and I think we could really make a difference. We can involve the other organizations that also have stigmas, like AIDS Project LA and AIDS Healthcare Foundation and any others we can think of. I am totally on board with this. This could really help so many people and for me, it gives me real meaning to move forward and do something positive with my life. Thank you Adrial for once again making us feel human again! :-)

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I'm in. fuck it. i got nothing to lose but fear itself. Adrial, i think your idea is fantastic. i would suggest the number 1,000 but if this thing gets rolling--as you say--like a snowball down a snow-covered hill, then 10,000 seems achievable. ignorance deserves no closet but open air where it goes transformed.

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I think 10,000 is a good number. If we utilize other support forums and dating sites to get people on board to sign up, then I think it will be easy to have that number to be reached!!! Someone had also suggested the AIDS foundations being involved.... Would that just be to get the word out and sign H+ people up for this or is it to have this whole thing be a STD/STI "coming out" movement?! Like having HIV and herpes be the focus of the whole thing?! Personally I would just like to stick to herpes.... Personally because I think it is the most stigmatized and used as the butt of jokes EVERYWHERE. I think if we add all STI's into it, it won't have as positive effect on changing the idea about herpes.

Just my thoughts :-)

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Yes, in response to Kaande & SBS, I think we should keep this to just herpes for now. Trust me, this shamelessness campaign will be taken to other areas where shame dwells in the future, but it dilutes it if we go for everywhere at once.

This content is for informational purposes only. This information does not constitute medical advice or diagnosis. I'm not a medical professional, so please take this as friendly peer support. 

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yes, I agree that it should be only herpies. I was just thinking that many of those who have Aids also have herpies. And maybe just to get the word out about our movement but not as an STD movement. I really think our group is the most stigmatized. Why? It does seem odd given that this isn't fatal and it's like having pimples! But for some reason we are the butt of jokes and are really ridiculed. I agree that just herpies coming out is the right way to go. I think 10,000 is a great start but I am willing to believe that we could get 100,000! This could be a huge movement and take huge effort and maybe even up to over a year in the making to do this right. just my thoughts. I'm willing to be a part and help out however i can.

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Great! So I don't have much time to work on this before November, but do want to get this ball rolling ... What are your ideas on what you want to include on our MANIFESTO? (This will be plastered all over the (h) opportunity websites for people to download to really get what we're all about.)

 

Here's a quick mockup of the style I'm going to be creating for it:

http://screencast.com/t/9fxseCCj8TID

 

... and here are all the statements I've thought of so far (what would you add?):

Life is vulnerable. Show yourself anyway.

A lot more people are waiting to love you than to judge you.

Life happens once. But love happens infinitely. Love to your fullest.

Fear only holds you back if you believe what it has to say.

Accept yourself first. Love those who shame you.

Know that you're lovable, sexy, whole and worth it.

Others may reject herpes. Never reject yourself.

Who you are is more important than what you have.

You are more than you believe yourself to be.

The greater your desire to hide, the greater your opportunity.

Shamelessness. (Shame points to more opportunities for wholeness.)

Self love = self acceptance.

Letting go of herpes stigma means letting go of the myth that your not enough.

Stepping out of shame and into the light is revealing the true you.

Authenticity can be scary. It's risky to show who you are. Do it anyway.

The only way to end the stigma is to accept myself first. Then others.

Herpes doesn't have the power to change your life. You do.

This content is for informational purposes only. This information does not constitute medical advice or diagnosis. I'm not a medical professional, so please take this as friendly peer support. 

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Great! Glad you like it so far. Regardless, how about everyone throw in some statements that really call to them about what this movement is about for you. Any idea is welcome! Let's get the idea generation rollin'!

This content is for informational purposes only. This information does not constitute medical advice or diagnosis. I'm not a medical professional, so please take this as friendly peer support. 

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What time frame are you thinking Adrial? I really think to do this right and make everyone feel the most secure, it needs to be well planned. I think this will take us into mid-2013 if we really want to make this an international movement. That's just my 2cents. I know I'm scared to take such a huge step but the more planning and more support we get from other organizations and media will make all of us less frightened.

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wow, great stuff! I really love the new youtube video! Seeing your excitement really makes me excited! I have a very good feeling deep inside about all of this too :)

 

I also agree with Shannon that I too beleive that we can get over 10, 000!

I am hoping to find other people in Ottawa who will join in on this with me.

 

I was just thinking maybe a poster or flyer could be designed that we can print off, and hand out to organizations, such as planned parenthood, and health centres, and schools, and just everywhere!! I would be willing to flyer the city to get the word out there.

 

 

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I'll be building upon this page that will end up being the website for our Shamelessness Project: http://herpesopportunity.com/the-shamelessness-project/

This content is for informational purposes only. This information does not constitute medical advice or diagnosis. I'm not a medical professional, so please take this as friendly peer support. 

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It's all manual for now. I would have to pay a programmer to automate the process, which I don't have the funds for at the moment. Hopefully once this thing gets rollin' I can afford to do that. :)

This content is for informational purposes only. This information does not constitute medical advice or diagnosis. I'm not a medical professional, so please take this as friendly peer support. 

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Adrial, the more I think about it, the more I think we can do better than 10,000 and should strive for better. It's not going to mean much if this movement isn't done to the highest marketing levels. We are talking about trying to make a huge change in perception and asking people to make themselves more vulnerable than they ever have been before. Society has poked fun at us and shamed us from the beginning of time and asking for an attitude change is going to take a real significant movement. If FB alone has over 800 million users and 20% could have herpes, we should be aiming much higher than 10,000, I know I would feel more comfortable having the support of 100,000 others or 500,000. I don't think this is unrealistic. I think its totally doable. 10,000 still makes us a minority and feels too scary for me. I want to do it big! I think we should provide information in the form of new releases, radio spots, how about a table at a health fair? Stuff like that. I know you want to get this going soon and I'm totally for that. But I want to help you make this a game changer in society. Together, everyone on this site can help and pull off a really powerful statement. This terrifies me and I'm sure it scares everyone here so having the support of 99,9999 others stand next to you would give us all amazing courage. Thoughts?

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NOTE: If you haven't submitted your profile yet, here's the page again: http://herpesopportunity.com/the-shamelessness-project/

 

Shannon, I agree that we could get 100,000 or even 1 million (the million herpes march!) ;) with enough enthusiastic supporters AND I want to be clear that I need a lot of help from everyone in this community to make that happen. I hear that you're dedicated, Shannon, (feels good to hear) and I hear others sporadically chiming in, and I NEED to know that when we launch this thing (whatever our target number) that we have plenty of our people all over the place with equal enthusiasm with us getting that number ... and that everyone is dedicated to giving that kind of energy in calling places like Planned Parenthood, clinics and complementary safer sex/STD organizations. I feel 10,000 at this point is doable with the current amount of enthusiastic people behind it. And at this point, I set up the website all by hand and it's not automated. I want to eventually raise enough money before too long to automate the site so I won't be putting up profiles manually all the way up through the 10,000th one.

 

SO ... WHO ELSE reading this thread right now wants to jump in to be at the forefront of this movement? It will mean printing off flyers that I'm going to be designing to hang up at all the places listed above and calling places to email them the flyer as a pdf, calling news organizations (I'm wide open to doing interviews for this), etc. As far as I see it, before we can REALLY launch this thing with a blitzkrieg of action, we'll need at least 50 people who are dedicated to making this happen with me.

 

I just set up a SUPER SECRET Facebook page (meaning NO ONE on facebook will know you're a part of this group or see anything we post). If you would like to be an integral member in making this happen, please request to join the page!

http://www.facebook.com/groups/239250816203089/

This content is for informational purposes only. This information does not constitute medical advice or diagnosis. I'm not a medical professional, so please take this as friendly peer support. 

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