true stories
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I was in Richmond, Virginia, for a work conference, and on the last day, I wore my herpes shirt. Now, I don’t normally care what people think, so I was just pleased that people asked me about it. As the conference was wrapping up, a VERY attractive man (who had commented on the shirt earlier) asked me if I wanted to get together with him later that night. Unfortunately, I had already changed my flight from the next morning to that very afternoon, so I couldn’t go. But hey—I was asked out in a herpes shirt!!
I wore it to the airport. I checked in, and walked around a bit waiting for my flight. I also went into a bar/restaurant to get something to eat, and sat at the bar. There were men sitting there, and they seemed flirtatious. (They were a tad drunk, so I don’t count that LOL). No one said anything or acted funny. That day, I wore it in 3 states (I changed planes in Pittsburgh) and not one funny look or rude comment. :)
Paper or Plastic?
The first time I wore the shirt out of the house, I had to remind myself that not everyone who wears a pink ribbon is a breast cancer survivor and not everyone who wears the rainbow is gay, so just because I’m wearing a shirt that says “herpes” it’s presumptuous for people to assume that I have it. So off I went to the grocery store, making sure to wear pink pants so that I stood out. Murphy’s Law: I run into one of my biggest customers, who didn’t say one word about my shirt—though I am not totally convinced he really read it for to do so would mean he would have had to stare at my breasts! Just as I was starting to feel a little let down that no one commented on the shirt during my trip, I ran into my hair stylist. We had a brief, animated discussion about STDs in the produce aisle. And that was it. No tomatoes thrown at me, no eggs on my car when I got back to the lot.
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