Female Courtship Strategies | Page 2

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t r a n sm itt ed dis e ase or be co m in g pre gn an t. H ow eve r, sin ce th e ad ve nt of A cq u ir e d
I m muno de fic ien cy Syn dro m e (A ID S), se x c an kill . N ot im med ia te ly , b ut estim ate s are th at a
s iz a b le po rtion o f the pe op le who are Hum an Im m uno de fic ie ncy Vir u s (H IV ) se ro po sit iv e , w ill
d e ve lo p AID S Rela ted Com ple x (A RC ) or A ID S wit h in 16 ye ars of se ro co nve rs io n (C oate s,
S til l, C ata nia , D olc in i, & Hoff, 198 9). R ese arc h e rs are cu rr e n tly work in g on va cc in es to pre ve nt
H IV in fe ction an d tr e atm en ts to slo w the p rog re ss io n of t he dis e a se , b ut cu rr en tly re fr a in in g
f r o m r isky beh avio rs is th e only effectiv e mean s of co ntr o llin g th e sp rea d of H IV . A cc ord ing to
t he pu bli c he alt h se rv ic e the re are th ree ways to re d uce one 's risk of e xp osu re to HIV fr o m
s e xu al tr a n sm iss io n -- ab stin en ce , se x wit h a m utu ally fa it h fu l pa rtn e r w ho is s ero neg ativ e , an d P
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sing ba rrie r co ntr a ce ptiv e s and sp e rm ic id es c onta in in g non oxin o l- 9 durin g se xua l a ctiv it ie s
t ha t in vo lv e th e sh arin g of b od y flu id s (U .S . DH HS, 198 8). T he re is evid en ce to in dic a te th at a
s iz a b le po rtion o f high risk ho m ose xu a l m en a re pra ctic ing sa fe r se xua l b eh avio r ( Coa te s, et.
a l., 198 9). H ow eve r, he te ro se xu a ls do not se e m to be ch a ng in g th eir se xua l p ra ctic e s. H arris ,
H urs e y, & Ja cks fo un d th a t ove r 50% of th eir no nra nd om sa m ple of und erg ra d ua te s fr o m a
u n iv e rs it y in Texa s re po rte d being se xu ally activ e in the pa st th re e month s, bu t on ly 20 .7 % of
t he se se xu