Forget everything you think you know about sex...

[ChaplinGuy]

From CBS News this morning. A new British study about sex, with specific reference to promiscuity and the spread of HIV, as well the impact of sexual politics in activity trends and behaviors. Interesting findings:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/01/world/main2141603.shtml

[stevevaboy]

Just goes to show how misguided OUR gov't. is on it's desire to spread the gospel of abstinence as opposed to common sense condom use.

[poet]

Yes, but let's think about this.  If you are in, say, Africa and have neither the information you need to make critical sexual decisions or access to condoms or a cultural prohibition against them, versus those of us who have access to the information and easy access to condoms which, if used properly, do prevent the spread of hiv, it's almost a distortion to say that a positive African in situation a couldn't spread hiv farther and faster than someone elsewhere in category b.  Please understand that one of the study brought in Africans so I am using Africans for this and no other reason.  But if we were to have someone positive in category b who had sex with each and every person at a bath house, unsafe sex, that is, every night for a year and all his partners seroconverted and, although also in category b, did the same, the more unsafe sex you have with the more partners you have, the more seroconversions we would see.  What perhaps stops this from happening is that enough men who have promiscuous sex are using condoms and are getting the message.  Win

[aztecan]

Sexual politics makes big headlines today. People want an easy fix, a pat answer to problems, hence the Bush push for abstinence.

The thing that strikes me is something I have believed for some time - that no one approach to prevention can be universally effective. This applies not only to difference between continents or countries, but between different populations within the same country or region.

HUGS,

Mark

[poet]

I agree, Mark.  It's the same way that people always want safe sex to be completely safe if they 'use' it or to send them a written guarantee that if they have oral sex, nothing will happen if a condom is not used.  Condoms fail, as too many of use know.  Oral sex appears in studies to be safe.  But since no researcher can follow someone throughout his or her life to determine that if and when she/he got infected, it could only have been through oral sex, we have to rely on what we are told about what they did, we can't guarantee what make sense from a research perspective.  But then the same people might want car manufacturers to guarantee that they won't get into a car accident if they hit the road.  If they drive safely it is less likely, but not a guarantee. Best, Win