HETEROSEXUAL MEN AND AIDS

The image of the "innocent'' heterosexual male who acquires HIV from a drug-using prostitute who had become infected through sex or by sharing dirty needles is at the core of many American men's fears about AIDS. But while other parts of the world have seen the AIDS epidemic claim mostly heterosexuals, in the U.S. straight men have been one of the population segments into which the disease has spread least.

Los Angeles Laker star Magic Johnson brought national attention to HIV among male heterosexuals (see card 26), but health officials say the fact is that female heterosexuals will likely bear the heaviest burden as HIV spreads into the general population, for two reasons. First, the male urethra presents a smaller target area for the virus to take hold than does the vagina; second, until recent changes in CDC guidelines, women with AIDS received less immediate attention than men (see card 84). Indeed, while feeling sympathy for Johnson, who got HIV from a woman, ask yourself: how many women did the promiscuous Johnson infect? According to the CDC, by 1992 U.S. women with AIDS who had become infected through heterosexual contact outnumbered men two to one.

The male/female HIV infection inequity has not caught those in the AIDS fight by surprise. Indeed, most are aware of it but say it is deliberately downplayed in order to bolster campaigns urging men to use condoms. As well they should. In a study of heterosexuals completed in October 1992, researchers at the University of California found that only 17% of people who had had multiple sex partners within the preceding five years used condoms all the time. Next Card 86: GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN and AIDS