Jennifer Gerson Uffalussy

Jenny McCarthy Says She Knows Kissing Doesn’t Cause HIV, Spreads Myth Anyway

Jennifer Gerson Uffalussy

Fri, November 20, 2015 at 6:52 PM UTC

Oh, Jenny Jenny Jenny Jenny. (Getty Images)

Oh Jenny.

I know science isn’t really your thing (but if I ever need to know about what co-hosting a game show with Chris Hardwick is like, I promise to ask you to weigh in) — but your comments about Charlie Sheen and your work with him on Two and a Half Men? Just no.

Wednesday, McCarthy told listeners of her SiriusXM show Dirty, Sexy, Funny that when it comes to Sheen and his recent disclosure of his HIV diagnosis, “I look back and I’m like, ‘OK, that would have been some valuable information.’ Look how many people have played his love interest on the show. I mean, not that you can obviously get it through kissing, but still, that’s a big deal.”

I’m sorry, Jenny, but I don’t exactly understand why.

First, Sheen reports that he learned of his diagnosis with HIV in 2011. McCarthy worked with Sheen on Two and a Half Men in 2010. So, I’m not exactly sure what she wishes he had disclosed to her a year before his diagnosis.

Second, and more importantly, as I thought we all learned in our middle school health class: HIV and AIDS cannot be transmitted through kissing.

As AIDS.gov explains, “HIV is spread from an infected person to another person through direct contact with some of the body’s fluids. It is not spread easily. Only certain body fluids from an HIV-infected person can transmit HIV.”

And those fluids that do transmit HIV are blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids, and breast milk.

Saliva, the only bodily fluid that would most likely be exchanged, if that, during a stage kiss, is not able to transmit HIV.

And the fact that McCarthy mentions this fact and dismisses it, all in the same breath, only serves to perpetuate misinformation about AIDS and HIV — and serves to stigmatize those who are living with the disease through false mythologies that have no basis in science.

In case Jenny is unsure, I’ll go ahead and mention that HIV is also not spread by air, water, insects — including mosquitoes or ticks — saliva, sweat, tears, shaking hands, hugging, sharing cutlery, water fountains, or toilet seats. HIV does not live long outside the human body, so unless any of the bodily fluids that do transmit HIV make contact with a mucous membrane or directly enter the bloodstream (through needle-sharing or blood transfusions) – well, Jenny, FYI, you still can’t get HIV.

McCarthy also mentioned on-air that it hardly seemed fair that actors are asked to sign off on consent forms to disclose if they have cold sores — but not if they have HIV or AIDS — and then doubled down by tweeting yesterday afternoon that she “took issue with a double standard in the industry. Every actress (and actor for that matter) must disclose hundreds of personal health matters before ever being allowed to set foot on a film set. Yet an actor who interacts physically with dozens of actresses in intimate scenes, is not required to disclose that he has HIV?”

Again, Jenny, in case this is still not clear to you, cold sores are caused by the herpes simplex virus, which is spread by sharing eating utensils or razors with an infected person, kissing an infected person, or touching an infected person’s saliva.

HIV and AIDS, as I mentioned, cannot be transmitted through any of these means. So, yes, it makes sense that if you are going to be doing kissing scenes you would need to disclose if you have herpes, but not HIV. (That said – let’s also not stigmatize herpes! One out of every six people between the ages of 14 and 49 in the U.S. has it, and while it may cause occasional discomfort, it will not radically harm a person’s overall, long-term health. Also, latex condoms are really effective in preventing its spread.)

Even the most “intimate” scene in mainstream TV or film involves nothing more than kissing and touching. And since HIV and AIDS cannot be transmitted through either of those means, there is no need to attempt to ostracize and alienate those who are living, and thriving, while managing the disease.

While Sheen’s former sexual partners might have issues about what was or was not disclosed to them, that information, too, is private and left to be discussed between the involved parties.

But neither Charlie Sheen nor any person living with HIV owes Jenny McCarthy, or anyone, a public announcement regarding this element of their medical history.

If anything, it is McCarthy who should warn audiences and co-workers that she is completely uninformed about medical science whenever she chooses to weigh in — and attempt to sway public discourse with her uneducated opinions.

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