Last week’s editorial, “AIDS calls for real sex-ed” almost completely dismisses sexual abstinence as a way of preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS. Abstinence is free, medically-benign, respectful of one’s self and others, risk-free, safe and volitional. The problem is that people are not 100% abstinent.

The superficial solution is to, say, toss somebody a package of condoms. The deeper solution is to examine the circumstances of and motives for sexual behavior. Sex is not an area where reason is at the forefront. Add in alcohol, drugs, peer pressure, and (worse yet) sexism, misogyny and violence and reason goes right out the window. If people are too baked and/or too threatened to practice abstinence, they won’t practice “safe sex” either.

Injectable drug use deserves special mention. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (see the attached, “Estimated Number of AIDS Cases among Adults and Adolescents, by Transmission Category 1985–2006–United States and Dependent Areas” slide number 3), injectable drug use equals high-risk heterosexual contact as an HIV/AIDS transmission category for men (17% and 17% respectively, N=27,694). Among women, its 24% injectable drug use and 74% high-risk heterosexual contact.

Critically examining the circumstances of and motives for sexual behavior is something we’re not doing and is the conversation we’re not having. It is past time to get our heads in the game.

Mark Andrews, Systems Librarian