Female Courtship Strategies | Page 4

ly 6.4 % of dia g no se d ca se s were att rib u te d
t o he te ro se xu al tr an sm iss ion (P ers on al co m m un ic a tio n Cente r fo r D is e a se Con tr o l (CD C),
1 9 91 ). N ote th a t the se fig ure s are fo r peo ple who re po rt no o th er risk fa cto rs be sid es
h e te ro se xu a l co nta ct. If we in clud e in div id ua ls who rep ort n ot only he te ro se xu a l co nta ct b ut
a ls o re po rt othe r risk fa cto rs s uch as ho m ose xua l/ b is e xu al con ta ct, IV dru g use , t ra n sfu sio n s,
a n d hem oph ilia, he te ro se xu a l tr a nsm iss ion is a risk fa cto r in abo ut 10 % of t he to ta l d ia g no se d
c a se s of A ID S nation wide (C DC , 199 1). CD C estim ate s th at t he re may c urr e n tly be u p to one
m illio n HIV se rop osit iv e in div id ua ls in th e Unit e d Sta te s.
F ro m the DHH S re co m mend ation s, th ere se em to be tw o rou te s of red ucin g on e's risk of
s e xu al e xp osu re to HIV : re d uction in th e num be r of se xu a l p artne rs and the u se o f co nd om s
a n d sp erm ic id e du ring se xu al re la tio ns. U ntil w e un de rs ta nd th e fa cto rs whic h in flu en ce th e
o n se t of se xu al i nte rc o u rs e wi th in th e co nte xt o f co u rts h ip , a tte m ptin g to im ple m en t
i n te rv e ntion s to pro d uce b eh avio r cha nge will pro ba bly be in e ffectiv e . B asic re se arc h is
n e ede d to un de rs ta nd the d is po sit io na l a nd sit ua tio na l fa cto rs whic h lea d to risky s exua l
b e ha vio r wi th in the cou rts h ip dom ain . T he co u rts h ip seq uen ce (P erp er, 1 985 ) ha s im plic a tio ns
f o r th e re du ctio n of risky s exua l b eh avio r. P erp e r obse rv e d ove r 50 0 hund re d co up le s
i n te ra ctin g in so cia l sit u ation s an d fo un d a pre d ic ta b le se qu en ce o f eve nts th at occ ur w he n tw o
p e op le meet in a courts h ip sit u a tio n. T his pro ce ss is biph asic wit h th e fe m ale o rc h