Scott Fried to speak at URI on World AIDS Day

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Scott Fried, an award-winning international public speaker, HIV/AIDS educator, and author, will be in residence at the University of Rhode Island on World AIDS Day, Friday, Dec. 1. Candidly addressing issues of sexual health, intimacy in the age of social media, and building resilience and self-esteem, he will conduct workshops at the Gender and Sexuality Center and at the Memorial Union. Fried will also speak Friday evening following dinner at URI Hillel.

For more than 25 years, he has lectured to more than a million teenagers and adults in nearly every U.S. state, as well as in other countries. Fried’s work is based on a core belief that one must understand the value of one’s own life and hold it sacred to refrain from dangerous behaviors that could lead to HIV infection and other crises. Sharing his own life story of contracting and dealing with HIV, he speaks on topics that include sexual responsibility and consent, transmission of HIV, eating disorders, body image, self-injury, suicide, alcohol and drug misuse, intimacy, and broken-heartedness.

In addition to the speech after the service of healing and a festive Shabbat dinner, Fried will lead workshops earlier in the day including “Social Media and True Intimacy” from noon to 1:30 p.m. and “Sexual Health and Safer Sex” from 2 to 4 p.m.

AIDS PROJECT RI will be conducting free and confidential HIV testing from 3 to 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 1, in the URI Health Services Potter Building, 6 Quarry Rd., Kingston, in conjunction with Fried’s visit.

Fried’s visit is sponsored by URI Hillel and the Gender and Sexuality Center with additional support from URI Health Services and Greek Life. Other contributors at this time include the URI Departments of Education, Gender and Women’s Studies, Human Development and Family Studies, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology; the URI Women’s Center; individual members of the URI Chaplains Association; and the (401)j Program of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island. For more information, please contact Amy Olson at URI Hillel at 401-874-2740 or amyolson@uri.edu or Annie M. Kosar at the URI Gender and Sexuality Center, 401-874-9277 or anniem@uri.edu.

URI Hillel, Fried,