Brenda Emily (@BrendaEmily on Instagram) is an HIV survivor who did not contract it sexually as one may assume. We discuss some of her experiences with hookups and rejection as someone navigating the dating world with HIV and cerebral palsy. We touch on HIV criminalization laws, despite the U equals U campaign, being more strict than the criminalization of rape. There's some overlap in herpes and HIV stigma that we address. Overall, we can let others mistake our being empowered for intimidating. Those drawn to us will affirm our being empowered whereas those who find us intimidating well, are just intimidated.
