When I was downtown the other night, I realized why I don't really like going downtown. Partly the smokey atmosphere which plays havoc on my lungs, partly the crowded-ness of the place where people check their manners at the door and partly the cost (how do people pay for it?!). But it was the music and the clothing that I noticed as I stood there in my jeans and t-shirt, analyzing the lyrics of each song that boom-boomed itself through my ears.

It is any wonder that people leave bars with sex on their minds? The music portrayed a sexual grind, the clothing was revealing and the alchol was flowing. It'd be fine if I knew people were making decisions to engage in equal, protected and consenting sex with people who they knew were not infected with STIs. But this isn't the case most of the time. People are sleeping around with those who they would normally not even consider. They are doing things they normally wouldn't do. They're driven by the music and the atmosphere and they're getting in trouble.

Not everyone is like this. I know that. But damn, it's a meat market. And it's scary.

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