Girl Positive premieres on Lifetime tonight at 9p and this is a must watch movie for people of all ages. The movie is about a high school junior who finds out the first guy she slept with was a heroin user and HIV+ when he died in car accident. Now she has to be brave enough to take the test and find out what the results are.
While that might sound like an important movie 20 years ago. the reality is in so many ways it is just as true today. Teenagers think HIV can’t happen to them and if it does they can just go on the cocktail. Yes you can go on the cocktail and yes it is effective, if you don’t have any complications from the meds and you remember to take the pills everyday. This movie touches on that, touches on rapid AIDS testing and that the stigma of being HIV+ has not changed.
Jennie Garth plays a substitute teacher who is HIV+ and works at an AIDS clinic, but keeps her status a secret. Her character Sarah Bennett is there for Rachel Sandler (Andrea Bowen, Desperate Housewives) who gets tested for HIV and runs from the results. Finally Sarah is ready to deal with the results, but everyone around her treats her like she has the plague until they realize that they too can be in the same boat.
When you watch the movie you might think it is an exaggeration of the scenario, but the reality is it is right on. There is very little in this movie that is not accurately portrayed. Half the new HIV cases each day are under 25 and to this day HIV does not discriminate on sex, race, sexual orientation or financial status. So tonight sit down and watch this movie because you know what it effects us all.
BTW June 27th is National HIV Testing Day, so if you had sex without a condom or shot up drugs think about getting tested. With rapid testing you will be able to know in less time than it takes to watch a sitcom.
