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Hundreds attend awareness speech
 Former Playboy Playmate and HIV awareness activist Rebekka Armstrong speaks in the Student Union Building Ballroom Thursday. Armstrong was diagnosed as HIV positive in 1989. Jake Barber/Argonaut
Jake Barber/Argonaut
Former Playboy Playmate and HIV awareness activist Rebekka Armstrong speaks in the Student Union Building Ballroom Thursday. Armstrong was diagnosed as HIV positive in 1989.
Every hour of every day, two people between the ages of 13 and 24
become infected with HIV. Currently, 33 million people in the world
live with the virus.
Rebekka Armstrong, an HIV-positive former Playboy Playmate, is among
them. Armstrong came to the University of Idaho late last week in honor
of World AIDS Day.
“You have to take the time to care enough about yourself, to protect yourself because you’re worth it,” Armstrong said.
Jake Barber/Argonaut
Former Playboy Playmate and HIV awareness activist Rebekka Armstrong
speaks in the Student Union Building Ballroom Thursday. Armstrong was
diagnosed as HIV positive in 1989.
At the age of 18, Armstrong was selected as the Miss September 1986 Playboy Playmate. A few years later, she was diagnosed as HIV-positive. Armstrong said she had been infected with the virus via unprotected sex.
Armstrong says she uses her former experiences as a model to attract people to listen to her message.
“Playboy was a part of my life and it draws people in,” Armstrong said. “It’s more effective to say a Playmate is going to talk about AIDS than just an average woman. There may be stigma attached to it … Maybe you just want to see what she looks like, but I’m glad we can use it to attract people.”
This isn’t the first time Armstrong has lectured on campus, however. Jesse Martinez, CAMP Coordinator and member of the World AIDS Day Committee, recollects attending Armstrong’s lecture a few years back when he was a student himself.
“I saw Rebekka’s lecture about five to six years ago,” Martinez said. “Her message is strong and the impact she had (on attendees) was the same — which is great, it’s what we wanted to see. We’d love to have her back in a couple of years.”
Armstrong’s lecture covered her personal experience in dealing with AIDS and talks about the importance of protection when being sexually active.
“You can contract AIDS through blood, semen, vaginal secretion and breast milk, which are the four major ways,” Armstrong said. “Women now make up more than half of the newly infected HIV population and are ten times more likely to get infected than men.”
Though Armstrong does have AIDS, she says she has not let the disease stop or constrain her from living her life.
“I’m still alive, I’m still breathing,” Armstrong said. “But it has been a crazy road and parts of it have been really painful.”
Armstrong is no longer involved in the Playboy organization and is currently a competitive bodybuilder and private professional trainer.
“I enjoyed how she discussed the progress she’s made in her personal life,” Martinez said. “It shows that there is hope for people who are HIV positive. There is hope that you can live a productive life. I’ve heard her speech twice and the message was even stronger the second time. It still makes me think and reflect.”
The 1912 Center in Moscow offers free HIV testing from 1-6 p.m. every Sunday for anybody who is interested in getting tested.
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